🔗 Share this article

Transpired he endured a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Regarding System & Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.