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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Over System and Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later bin them for taking too long. 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 – are in charge.