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Iturns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray 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 little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

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 walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. 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 signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little 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 talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach only to fire them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and then bin them for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.