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Transpired Ruben Amorim was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding System & Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Order: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later bin 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 – are in charge.