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Iturns out the manager could survive losing against lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Over System & Ideology

For example, it was the director who being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for using too much that system. Hire the process guy and then discard them for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.