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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Football Order: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.