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Itranspired Ruben Amorim endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – simply operate on a plane 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 equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Supreme Power In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Order: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for playing too much that system. Hire the project manager and later bin him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.