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Transpired the manager was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Over System & Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference 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 United to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire them for using excessively that system. Hire the project manager and later bin them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.