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Tbecame clear he was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Regarding System and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Authority In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become not about defining the vision 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 takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach only to fire him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and then bin them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.