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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who often railed at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals 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 casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss him for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later bin him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.