Manchester United director of football, Jason Wilcox, was hand-picked by Ineos to play a significant role in rebuilding the club from top to bottom.
It has been almost 18 months since Jason Wilcox arrived at Manchester United, initially becoming technical director before taking up the director of football position.
Wilcox has been a key figure at the club since arriving and has had a hand in all aspects of the club’s footballing operations.
In the summer of 2024, Wilcox was credited for his role in signing Chido Obi, a move that is the kind of deal he was known for in his career. Speaking last season, Ruben Amorim praised Wilcox’s transfer business, in relation to Ayden Heaven in particular.
Additionally, Wilcox is thought to have established a United game model that managers are expected to conform to in order to build the DNA of the club, which led to the appointment of Ruben Amorim.
However, for all the positives, not everything has gone to plan for Wilcox and United.
Jason Wilcox reviews Manchester United’s transformation off the pitch
Ineos‘ plan at United was to build a ‘best in class’ footballing department, with Wilcox at the forefront of this, likely suggested by Omar Berrada.
This was part of a wide-scale overhaul within the club staff from top to bottom, but Wilcox’s job was solely focused on football, which he has now discussed in an interview with Man Utd The Religion YouTube channel.
“It has been a rollercoaster! I came in last April, around 18 months ago, and it’s been a real challenge, I can’t lie”, Wilcox shared in a refreshingly honest discussion.
“I thought the club was in a much better place than it was. We had no football identity; we lacked alignment between ownership, the CEO, football, and the academy.
“We’ve just been working so hard behind the scenes. There’s been a lot of work that’s gone on to change the staff.
“The football club needed to go through a period of transformation. Forget the redundancies. The whole structure of Man United needed to change… Now we’ve got a platform to rebuild.
“I just pray we get the opportunity to turn things around.”
Wilcox sounds confident that things are going as expected, with such drastic changes taking time to come into effect, but he also sounds not entirely safe in his role.
Jason Wilcox will be under as much pressure as Ruben Amorim right now
This season has been a disaster so far, no matter what the process is for Wilcox, but it is Amorim who is taking the majority of the criticisms.
Despite the head coach being the face of the failure, Wilcox and Berrada could also be under scrutiny with their widescale changes not working yet, and Sir Jim Ratcliffe not being a patient man.
Wilcox is the director of football, which means transfers, youth progression, and all other topics will be under his jurisdiction, alongside Amorim, Berrada, and Christopher Vivell, but if the signings fail to impress, Wilcox will get part of the blame.
Ratcliffe sacked Dan Ashworth for less last year, and so as much as Amorim’s job is on the line, so is Wilcox’s, and he seems to know it.
Hopefully, Wilcox’s belief in building something begins to take shape.
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