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Itbecame clear the manager could survive losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become not 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. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach and then fire them for using too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.