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Itranspired the manager endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Over System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he 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 departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach and then dismiss them for playing too much that system. Hire the process guy and then discard them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.