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Transpired Ruben Amorim was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him 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 verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Over System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives 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 suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be determined in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted 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 energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then fire them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.