Manchester United: Ruben Amorim departure puts spotlight on Jason Wilcox
In a rare media appearance on the company’s Inside Carrington podcast in early November, Wilcox described how he copes with the intense stress and pressure of his job.
“My wife will understand that I’m frustrated,” he explained. “When I regain energy, I do it on my own. Me and the dog, we walk.”
We don’t know if the Wilcox family’s dog has been going outside more than usual the past few days, but it wouldn’t be a surprise if its owner needed a breather.
Wilcox says he was loud and energetic, a good enough player to be a key part of Blackburn’s title-winning team in 1995, but by his own admission this was an ‘alter ego’ and he is naturally a “quiet guy”.
Less than two years have passed since Wilcox joined Manchester United, first as manager and then, following the rapid departure of Dan Ashworth, as director of football.
But Wilcox knows quiet is not a word associated with the club and has been thrust into the spotlight following Amorim’s departure and the search for a successor.
He could wait for this.
In the overall structure of Old Trafford, Wilcox is as senior as it gets, past the joint ownership of the Glazer family and Sir Jim Ratcliffe, chief executive Omar Berrada, finance director Roger Bell and heavyweight figures on the football club’s board.
In addition to the in-house podcast appearance, there is also an extended chat with Wilcox available for everyone to see.
He fulfilled his commitment to speak at United’s former players’ 40th anniversary dinner, despite it being just days after the 3-0 defeat against Manchester City in September.
Club officials thought this was a private event and Wilcox’s Q&A session at Old Trafford would not be broadcast. However, it was filmed and uploaded to the internet.
The ‘news’ element was widely reported at the time, including on BBC Sport.
“It’s really about ‘are we going to win again?’ I feel like it’s not. but ‘when we win again,'” he told the audience. “I pray we have the opportunity to turn the situation around.”
Watching the full 13 minutes backwards, there’s another part that Wilcox probably wishes didn’t exist, as he speaks openly about the difficulties of exiting the regimented world of football after a 17-year career that saw him retire in 2006.
“I wanted to spend some time with my family, but then the phone stops ringing and you lose your identity,” he said.
“It’s like getting out of the military. You belong to something, you have your routine, and then you don’t belong to anything.
“I’m a coach at heart. I’m a coach deep down, even though I know I have a different job now. That’s a strength in my role, but it also creates a bit of a problem for me because I always want to interfere with what the managers are doing.”
