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Iturns out Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Over System and Philosophy

To illustrate, this 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 attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join a club and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.