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Turns out the manager endured losing against Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Football Order: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach only to dismiss them for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.