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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim could survive losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, 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 largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace 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 determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative 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 the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for using too much that system. Hire the project manager and then bin them for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.