Manchester United have announced the appointment of Jason Wilcox as the club’s technical director.
Wilcox, 53, stepped down from his role as Southampton’s director of football earlier this month and takes over the reins at Old Trafford with immediate effect.
The 53-year-old’s appointment is part of a major overhaul at the Theatre of Dreams, following on from Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s £1.3million partial takeover back in February.
The Red Devils confirmed in an official statement that Wilcox would be ‘working with all technical areas of the football department to achieve the highest standards of performance’.
Before his time with Southampton, Wilcox – a former Premier League winner with Blackburn Rovers – worked as the academy director with United’s neighbours Manchester City.
The Saints said that they ‘reluctantly agreed’ to allow Wilcox complete a switch from the south coast to the north west in a short statement on their website.
‘Whilst the club is naturally disappointed that Jason’s stay at Southampton has only lasted nine months, it wishes him well for the future,’ the statement read.
‘The club will continue to work closely with Russell Martin and his back-room team to ensure they have all the support they require moving forwards.’
It had been widely reported that there had been a dispute over the terms of Wilcox’s release at St Mary’s, with United confident they had got their man after offering what amounted to a year of his salary.
But the Championship club were less than impressed, denying the existence of any clause which would allow Wilcox to leave the club for Old Trafford.
Speaking to BBC Radio Solent earlier this month, Southampton manager Russell Martin underlined that Wilcox would leave with ‘nothing but good wishes’ should a move to United materialise.
‘Being brutally honest, the one person this affects the most is me,’ Martin said. ‘There is still lots going on that hasn’t been clarified yet and legally. If he ends up going, which if we’re being honest looks likely at this point, then he goes with nothing but good wishes from us all.
‘He has played such a huge part in changing the culture of this club and the feeling around the training ground, he’s enabled us to be the leaders that we want to be.’
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