The Coach's Fatal Error? Taking On The Executives and an Unassailable Executive Tier

Iturns out he was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over Formation and Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. 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 back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become 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. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then fire him for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.