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Iturns out Ruben Amorim endured losing against Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely 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 comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of 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 guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision 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. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for playing too much 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and then bin him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.