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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Over System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree 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 thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for playing excessively that system. Hire the process guy and later discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.