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Itranspired the manager could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

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 leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing excessively that system. Hire the process guy and later bin him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.