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Iturns out the manager endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Football Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative 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 two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then fire them for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later bin him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.