Amorim's Fatal Mistake? Challenging The Executives and an Unassailable Executive Class

Iturns out the manager endured defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Over System & Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree 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. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.