The Coach's Fatal Error? Taking On Wilcox and an Infallible Leadership Tier

Turns out he could survive defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over System & Philosophy

For example, it was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized 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 the club to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to oversee 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?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then discard him for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.