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Itranspired Ruben Amorim could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Regarding System and Ideology

For example, this was the director , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox 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 full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power In Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Order: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies 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 LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while the people who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.