The Coach's Critical Error? Taking On The Executives and an Unassailable Executive Class

Transpired the manager endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he 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 activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Authority In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Football Order: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then fire him for using too much that system. Hire the project manager and later bin them for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.