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Itbecame clear the manager was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over Formation & Philosophy

For example, this was the director who being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

The Supreme Authority In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook 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. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach only to dismiss him for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later bin them for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.