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Turns out Ruben Amorim endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach came at the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Over System and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The New Football Order: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach only to fire him for using excessively that system. Hire the process guy and later discard them for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.