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Itranspired Ruben Amorim endured a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating 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 brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was the director who being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree 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, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using too much that system. Hire the process guy and then bin him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.