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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. 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 that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach only to fire him for using too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.