Jason Wilcox has been behind some of the biggest decisions that have plagued Manchester United in recent years

Jason Wilcox has faced intense scrutiny over INEOS’s football operations at Manchester United since his arrival at Old Trafford. The football executive joined the Red Devils in April 2024 from Southampton to become their technical director.

Wilcox, 55, assumed the responsibilities of the sporting director position eight months after his arrival, following the departure of Dan Ashworth. He's now serving as director of football, replacing Sir Dave Brailsford last June.

It's been a tumultuous period for the former Blackburn Rovers star, who has conducted significant change at Old Trafford with multiple managers hired and hundreds of millions spent on players. The eye-watering expenditure hasn't resulted in winning - just the opposite.

As we sit now, United sit 17th in the Premier League table and look as if the worst is still yet to come. Mirror Football delve into the five biggest errors of Jason Wilcox's tenure thus far.

Make sure you don't miss the best Man Utd coverage by making the Daily Mirror one of your Google preferred sources.

Keeping Erik ten Hag

Erik ten Hag's last full season in charge at United resulted in the club finishing eighth in the Premier League with a negative goal difference, their worst position since the 1989–90 season. They were knocked out of the EFL Cup in the fourth round by holders Newcastle and finished bottom of their Champions League group.

However, their last game of the campaign ended in celebrations as the Dutchman led the club to FA Cup glory in a 2-1 win over rivals Manchester City. Speculation was rife over Ten Hag's future and he was subject of an end-of-season review conducted by Wilcox and the newly-formed INEOS leadership.

He was subsequently backed in the summer transfer window and spent over £200m on new arrivals, but was dismissed just nine games into the season in October 2024. Making the decision to cut ties with him in the summer would have saved an exorbitant amount of money spent on players that have largely struggled to announce themselves at the Theatre of Dreams since signing.

Lack of identity

Wilcox has appointed three permanent managers at Manchester United, each with a different style of play. It's a strategy that the likes of Liverpool, Manchester City and Arsenal wouldn't dare do.

While Ten Hag was ultimately unsuccessful at Old Trafford, appointing Ruben Amorim as his replacement was an extremely costly decision for two reasons. Firstly, Wilcox would need to invest in specialised players for Amorim's 3-4-2-1 formation and he ultimately had to fork out a fortune for the Portuguese manager and his staff upon their exit.

With Carrick at the helm, he's been left with a squad made up of Ten Hag’s former Eredivisie signings and players acquired specifically for Amorim's system. Multiple transfer windows has produced a disjointed squad at Old Trafford and a situation that will likely take years to rectify.

Appointing Michael Carrick permanently

The appointment of Michael Carrick after leading United to Champions League qualification was eerily similar to Ole Gunnar Solskjaer getting the permanent job in March 2019 after winning 14 of his 19 matches in charge.

There's no doubt the 45-year-old put himself in the best position possible to earn the job, but United had been in an identical situation six years prior when a club legend lifted the spirits of the organisation across half a season.

Carrick had led his former side admirably in the second half of last season in an interim role, but being the permanent figurehead of a club the size of Manchester United is a different beast altogether. With just three years of management under his belt at Middlesbrough, is it such a surprise that he's on the brink of losing his job?

Transfer neglect

Right or wrong, Lisandro Martinez's public outburst about Wilcox was accurate. The Argentine took aim at the Red Devils' director after their Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid, slamming United's efforts in the transfer market to bolster their squad.

While the club addressed their midfield situation with the signings of Andrey Santos, Youri Tielemans and Carlos Baleba, who have yet to impress this season, they still face some of their biggest squad issues in defence.

Consistent injuries to Martinez and Matthijs de Ligt last season left Carrick's side short of options, while Luke Shaw was the club's only senior left-back after the departure of Tyrell Malacia. However, not one defensive signing was made in the summer, leaving Carrick to play players out of position this season, with Shaw injured and centre-back Ayden Heaven, 20, forced to play at full-back.

Not enough squad overhaul

A key complaint from United fans in the years before and after Wilcox's arrival at Old Trafford is that there haven't been enough departures of players they deem not good enough to represent the club.

While the club have got the likes of Antony, Jadon Sancho, Rasmus Hojlund, Alejandro Garnacho and Victor Lindelof off the books in the last couple of years, Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw remain at the club.

Maguire, 33, is approaching eight years at the club, while Shaw, 31, will make it 13 years at Old Trafford by the end of the season. Both defenders are out of contract next summer, but have routinely come under criticism for their lack of quality and consistency across their tenure in Manchester.

Liverpool icon Steven Gerrard admitted that both players should have been sold this past summer to allow the club to recruit new talent. He said on The Overlap: "If you go through the squad, the back four.

"Harry Maguire’s had a really good career, Luke Shaw, I played with Luke [with England], he was top in his day. They’re not Manchester United players anymore. They should have been moved on quicker."