Amorim's Critical Mistake? Taking On The Executives and the Unassailable Executive Tier

Turns out he endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation & Ideology

For example, it was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Supreme Power In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for using excessively that system. Hire the process guy and then bin them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.