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Itbecame clear the manager could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive an important European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over System & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme 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, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for using too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.