🔗 Share this article

Iturns out Ruben Amorim could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Over Formation & Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually 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 walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss them for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.