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Itranspired he could survive defeat by Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable 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 may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – simply operate at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become 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 very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later bin him for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.