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Transpired he could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Over Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation 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 reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.