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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Over System & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon 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 football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Soccer Order: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them 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 your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.