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Tbecame clear the manager endured defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss him for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then bin them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.