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Itranspired Ruben Amorim endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience 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 rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Order: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, 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? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss them for playing excessively that system. Hire the project manager and later discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.