Amorim's Critical Mistake? Taking On Wilcox and an Unassailable Leadership Tier

Iturns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not responsible for 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 on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later discard him for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.