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Itbecame clear he could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire them for playing excessively that system. Hire the process guy and later discard them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.