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Itranspired Ruben Amorim endured defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Over System & Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring 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 desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet 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 leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach only to dismiss him for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.