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Turns out Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have failed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Over Formation & Ideology

For example, this was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – simply operate 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 four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Football Order: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.