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Turns out Ruben Amorim endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining 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 one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox 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 full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later discard him for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.