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Itranspired Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered an important European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Over System and Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for using too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.