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Tbecame clear the manager endured defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over System & Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions 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 drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals 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 open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for playing too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later discard them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.