Amorim's Critical Error? Challenging The Executives and the Unassailable Executive Class

Turns out he endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Regarding System & Philosophy

For example, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.