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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later discard him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.