Amorim's Critical Mistake? Taking On The Executives and the Infallible Executive Class

Iturns out Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. 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 functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Over Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to 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 questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into a club and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for using too much that system. Hire the process guy and then bin him for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.