The Coach's Fatal Mistake? Challenging The Executives and the Infallible Leadership Tier

Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim was able to withstand losing against lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Regarding System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later bin them for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.