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Transpired Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad 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 sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over Formation & Ideology

For example, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Supreme Power In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails 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 of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later bin him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.