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Transpired Ruben Amorim was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not creating the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for playing too much that system. Hire the process guy and later bin them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.