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Transpired the manager endured losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox 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 a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for using too much that system. Bring in the process guy and later bin him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.