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Iturns out Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.