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Itranspired Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. 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 crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for playing excessively that system. Hire the project manager and then discard him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.