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Turns out Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Over Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers 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 ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Soccer Order: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? 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 impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire them for playing excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.