Amorim's Critical Error? Challenging The Executives and the Unassailable Executive Class

Transpired he was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important European final against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Over System and Ideology

For example, this was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.