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Itbecame clear he endured defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for playing excessively that system. Hire the process guy and then bin him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.