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

Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Over System and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich 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 similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still 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 front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.