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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim was able to withstand losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. However, these judgements 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 championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Power In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention 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 line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later discard them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.