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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on the executive and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.