🔗 Share this article

Turns out he endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. 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 the team's approach of play “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for playing too much that system. Hire the process guy and later discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.