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Transpired the manager could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Order: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, 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 can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire them for using too much that system. Hire the process guy and later discard them for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.