The Coach's Critical Mistake? Challenging The Executives and an Unassailable Leadership Class

Turns out Ruben Amorim endured defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding System & Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach only to dismiss them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later discard him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.