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Iturns out he could survive defeat by Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps 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 questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – simply operate at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. 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 data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering 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 fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach and then fire them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.