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Transpired Ruben Amorim endured defeat by Grimsby. Survive an important European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox 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 succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Order: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.