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Tbecame clear the manager could survive losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding System & Philosophy

For example, it was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.