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Tbecame clear he was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, 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, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Order: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out 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 visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach and then dismiss him for using excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and then bin him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.