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Iturns out Ruben Amorim could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive an important European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Over System & Philosophy

For example, this was the director who being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Order: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach and then fire them for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and then bin him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.