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Transpired he was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding System and Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed 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 faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Order: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.