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Turns out the manager endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding System & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

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 walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Power In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention 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 ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Order: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later bin him for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.