Jason Wilcox joined Manchester United in April 2024 - initially as technical director after 15 months in a similar role at Manchester City, where he had previously been in charge of the academy.

At City he worked with current United chief executive Omar Berrada and also Stephen Torpey, who was appointed United's head of academy in August 2025.

When he arrived, it was said by United officials that Wilcox would work across all technical areas of the club to achieve "highest standards of performance" and would be answerable to the sporting director.

That changed the following December, when that sporting director - Dan Ashworth - was sacked amid a difference of opinion over who should replace Erik ten Hag as manager.

Ten months on, a poor series of results and dissatisfaction with transfer business has put Wilcox in the spotlight.

There are some who have sympathy with the position Wilcox finds himself in. The 55-year-old is not in charge of transfer budgets, which are set at a higher level.

Wilcox was also - obviously - not responsible for the injury Manuel Ugarte sustained playing for Uruguay at the World Cup, which wrecked a plan to sell the midfielder in the summer to bolster the transfer budget.

He, too, was powerless to prevent Barcelona backing out of a £26m deal to sign England forward Marcus Rashford.

Both issues affected the amount United could spend in the summer - both on transfer fees and wages.

Wilcox rarely speaks to the media, and a general lack of communication means we don't know why United decided to focus exclusively on strengthening their midfield in the summer, rather than bring in competition at left-back for Luke Shaw and striking support for Benjamin Sesko.

With both players injured, that looks like a major error.

The general consensus is Michael Carrick has been sold badly short, and Wilcox's job title - and the fact he is often photographed with United's new signings and quoted in official press releases - means he is being blamed.