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Tbecame clear the manager could survive losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Over System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss them for using excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and then discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.