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Itranspired he could survive losing against Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach came at the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Over System and Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Order: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once 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 these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach only to dismiss him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin them for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.