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Tbecame clear the manager could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – function at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Order: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role 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. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach only to fire them for playing too much that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard him for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.