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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured losing against Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Over Formation and Ideology

For example, it was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo 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 to football “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Order: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals 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 casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy 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. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss him for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.