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Tbecame clear he could survive losing against Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire them for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later bin him for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.