🔗 Share this article

Transpired he could survive defeat by Grimsby. Survive an important European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint 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 food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using too much that system. Hire the project manager and then discard him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.