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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed 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 football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas 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 overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then discard them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.