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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary 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 appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding System & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and later discard him for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.