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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Order: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.