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Tbecame clear the manager endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Over System and Philosophy

For example, it was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Authority Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss him for using too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin him for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.