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Transpired Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss them for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and then discard them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.