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Iturns out he endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Regarding System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for using too much that system. Bring in the process guy and then bin them for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.