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Itbecame clear he could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding System & Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The New Football Order: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using too much that system. Hire the process guy and then discard them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.