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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later discard him for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.