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Tbecame clear the manager could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have failed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Order: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire them for using excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and then discard him for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.