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Transpired Ruben Amorim endured defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Over System and Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Power In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing excessively that system. Hire the project manager and later bin them for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.