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Iturns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Regarding Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Football Order: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later discard him for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.