The Coach's Fatal Mistake? Taking On Wilcox and the Unassailable Leadership Class

Iturns out Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Over System & 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 trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Order: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach and then dismiss him for using too much that system. Hire the project manager and later discard them for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.