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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as 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 demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius 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 made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach and then fire them for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and then bin him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.