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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, 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 mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Order: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses 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 leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire them for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then discard him for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.