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Itranspired he was able to withstand losing against lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then discard him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.