Amorim's Fatal Error? Challenging Wilcox and the Unassailable Leadership Class

Transpired he could survive a loss to Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Over Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was the director , after being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be determined in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach only to dismiss them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin them for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.