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Amorim's Critical Error? Taking On Wilcox and the Unassailable Leadership Tier
Iturns out he endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.
Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.
And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.
The Tactical Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy
To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.
Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.
An Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne
But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.
Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, 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 cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?
A Modern Soccer Order: Executives Over Coaches
This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.
In the meantime, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.
A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Few
And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing excessively that system. Hire the project manager and later discard him for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.
James Shepherd
A seasoned business strategist with over a decade of experience in digital marketing and corporate growth initiatives.
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