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Iturns out Ruben Amorim could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Supreme Authority Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Football Order: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for using too much that system. Bring in the process guy and later discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.