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Transpired Ruben Amorim was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.