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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as little more than 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. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over System & Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – function at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Order: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, 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 join a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy 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 literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively 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 Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss them for playing too much that system. Hire the process guy and later discard them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.