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Transpired he could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Over System and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then discard him for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.