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Iturns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Regarding System & Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Authority Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly 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 front-facing representative of the operation, 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 domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire them for using too much that system. Hire the project manager and later bin him for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.