Itranspired Ruben Amorim endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling 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. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.
Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.
In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.
To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team 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 regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate 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. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.
Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided by this group”.
Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?
This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.
In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while the people who hired him live to blunder another day.
And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later discard him for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.
Elena Vance is a digital strategist and creative director with over a decade of experience in transforming brands through innovative design.