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Transpired he could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. 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 ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power 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 a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss them for using too much that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.