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Tbecame clear he was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach came at the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.