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Turns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Over Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued by a man with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain 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. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Authority In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward 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 investment, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Order: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later discard him for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.