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Itranspired he could survive a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for playing too much 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 the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.