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Itranspired Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Order: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club 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 gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for using too much that system. Hire the project manager and later bin them for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.