Jason Wilcox at Man United: Inside His Role Under Ratcliffe

A photograph of Sir Jim Ratcliffe alongside his Manchester United executives provides a revealing insight into the mood inside the Old Trafford boardroom.

Ratcliffe appears furious as he points a finger at director of football Jason Wilcox. Wilcox responds by raising a bent finger in cautious defence, while chief executive Omar Berrada positions himself between the pair.

The image was taken at half-time during United’s match at Molineux last December. Wolves had just equalised, although Manchester United eventually claimed what proved to be their final away victory under Ruben Amorim.

A month later, Amorim turned his frustration on Wilcox and the club’s senior figures during a post-match rant at Leeds. That followed an angry confrontation between Amorim and Wilcox at Carrington two days earlier. Amorim was subsequently dismissed.

Manchester United return to Elland Road on Sunday, with former Leeds winger Wilcox once again facing scrutiny. Lisandro Martinez criticised him in a television interview after Tuesday’s defeat by Atletico Madrid, saying he had “expected more from our technical director” during the summer transfer window.

Martinez accepted a fine and apologised for the timing of his remarks in a statement that referred to Wilcox. He said that “everyone at the club is doing everything they can to make the team successful”, but he has not apologised directly to Wilcox.

Ratcliffe has cited former Manchester City director of football Txiki Begiristain’s view that Wilcox possesses the “best set of eyes” in the game. Even so, the 55-year-old knows that reputation offers little protection when results and recruitment decisions are questioned.

The Molineux photograph was taken almost a year after Ratcliffe abruptly dismissed Wilcox’s predecessor, Dan Ashworth, following a match at Old Trafford. Wilcox was then promoted from his role as technical director.

Wilcox is understood to retain the backing of the Ineos billionaire. However, there is sympathy for an executive operating under financial restrictions, which made moves for leading targets such as Elliot Anderson impossible during the summer, particularly with Ratcliffe closely involved in the decision-making process.

One agent told Daily Mail Sport: “Jason is in an incredibly difficult position. Everybody would think he’s the decision-maker at the club, but he absolutely isn’t. Manchester United is run by the owners, Sir Jim and the Glazers. If you sack Wilcox, nothing will change. It’s a mess.”

Another agent added: “We had a deal agreed with Jason and then Jim got involved and tried to change it. He ended up killing it.”

A year after Manchester United received praise for signing Senne Lammens, Benjamin Sesko, Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha, Wilcox has been questioned over a midfield-focused recruitment strategy that led to the arrivals of Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans.

United travelled to face Atletico Madrid at the Metropolitano in midweek without a recognised striker or left-back, following entirely foreseeable injuries to Sesko and Luke Shaw.

Given his six years as head of Manchester City’s academy and nine months as Southampton’s director of football, it is understandable that Wilcox’s suitability for such a major role is being debated. If United cannot revive their season, should he be held as accountable as head coach Michael Carrick?

Erik ten Hag was never an admirer of Wilcox, while his relationship with Amorim deteriorated further. The former United manager suggested that Wilcox was too sensitive to criticism from television pundits such as Gary Neville.

Not everyone shares that assessment. “Straight to the point, no bulls***,” said one source. Another described Wilcox as “an absolute gentleman and man of his word”.

One Premier League executive, speaking anonymously, said: “Wilcox is ultra-professional, or at least he has been in my experience. Is he as hard-faced as some of them out there? Maybe not, and perhaps that can put him on the back foot on occasion.”

‘He works for Man United, though, and I think there needs to be a certain standard of behaviour that comes with that. I feel Wilcox understands it. He has a pretty good reputation in the league.’

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Wilcox chatted briefly with reporters before United played Paris-Saint Germain in Gothenburg in the summer, but has maintained a relatively low profile since succeeding Ashworth who – like John Murtough before him – was more open with the media.

Wilcox spoke with United’s in-house station MUTV in October last year, coincidentally after a run of three straight wins, a month after he appeared on stage at a gala dinner for the Association of Manchester United Players when he admitted that his coaching background means ‘I always want to interfere with what the managers are doing’.

That might not be what Carrick wants to hear but the two men are said to have a good working relationship, and the United boss said he has no problem with Wilcox keeping his head below the parapet when he spoke before the Leeds game on Friday.

‘I don’t think that’s for me to say whether he should or not,’ said Carrick. ‘I’ve got absolutely no problem sitting here and talking to you guys and leading the football club from this position.’

When Blackburn Rovers’ squad of 1995 gathered together last year to celebrate the 30th anniversary of beating United to the Premier League title, Wilcox took some stick from his old teammates.

‘He took it really well,’ said one. ‘He’s very self-effacing. There’s no airs and graces. He was always a conscientious lad with a great sense of humour who worked really hard – although you wouldn’t necessarily have had him down as the future director of football at Manchester United.’

Raised in Bolton, the boyhood Liverpool fan represented England at judo after achieving his black belt at the age of 14.

Wilcox joined Blackburn two years later after he was rejected by City and his father sent off 30 letters to clubs in the north-west asking them to give him a chance.

He built a reputation as a dressing-room joker as Kenny Dalglish forged a title-winning team under millionaire owner Jack Walker, and his better impersonations were said to include Bruce Forsyth and Norman Wisdom.

When Rovers edged out United by one point on the final day of the season, Wilcox was on crutches at Anfield following knee surgery – just as he had missed out on the club’s promotion to the Premier League via the Play-off Final at Wembley in 1992 because of injury, his misery complete when a bird defecated on his club suit before the game.

Wilcox did make three appearances at Wembley for England – against Hungary, France and Argentina – in a career that included spells at Leeds, Leicester and Blackpool.

In retirement, he continued to follow Blackburn as part of the commentary team on BBC Radio Lancashire, and he also wrote a regular column for the Lancashire Telegraph.

He always felt destined to go down the coaching path, though, and joined City where he led the Under-18s to two FA Youth Cup finals before making his name as the club’s academy head.

Wilcox oversaw the progression of a number of young stars to the first-team including Phil Foden, Cole Palmer, Rico Lewis and Liam Delap – notably sticking by Palmer when others considered letting him go at 16.

He also helped City make a big profit from selling their surplus academy talent, something United are now trying to emulate.

‘Jason was always very fair at City,’ says one agent. ‘If he said your player would get a new contract if he played well, he was usually true to his word. He is very black and white. He doesn’t pussyfoot around on decisions like some.’

It was no surprise that Berrada took Wilcox from Southampton as part of the influx of ex-City staff into Old Trafford, even if the overlap with Ashworth never looked like working out for long.

Now it’s his turn to feel the heat with Ratcliffe breathing down his neck.