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Iturns out Ruben Amorim could survive losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Over System & Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The New Football Order: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.