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Turns out the manager was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Over System & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.