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Iturns out Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding System & Philosophy

For example, this was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for using excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin him for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.