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Transpired he could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Football Order: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire them for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later discard him for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.