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Transpired Ruben Amorim was able to withstand losing against lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. 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”.

After all, 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 it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest 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 decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then bin them for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.