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Iturns out Ruben Amorim endured losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Over Formation & Ideology

For example, it 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 beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then discard them for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.