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Tbecame clear he could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over System & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – simply operate at a level exceeding our 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 prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire 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. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later discard him for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.