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Itranspired Ruben Amorim was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Order: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later discard him for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.