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Transpired Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later discard him for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.