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Iturns out he could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Over System and Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

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 line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

The New Soccer Order: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss them for using excessively that system. Hire the project manager and later bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.