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Itbecame clear the manager could survive a loss to Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power In 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, merely executing the commands of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then discard him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.