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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, 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 engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Over System & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he 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 walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Order: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and then discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.