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Transpired the manager endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding Formation & Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Order: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and later discard him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.