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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view him 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. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, 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 outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible 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 companies have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss them for playing excessively that system. Hire the project manager and later bin him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.