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Turns out Ruben Amorim could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning 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 in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Order: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using too much that system. Bring in the project manager and then discard them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.