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Itranspired Ruben Amorim could survive losing against lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. 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 metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach only to dismiss him for using too much that system. Hire the process guy and later discard them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.