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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, it was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later bin him for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.