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

Transpired Ruben Amorim endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Over System & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – function at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for playing too much that system. Hire the project manager and then bin them 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 grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.