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Tbecame clear he could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Over Formation and Ideology

For example, this was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then discard them for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.