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Iturns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach came at the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Order: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility 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 mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss them for using too much that system. Hire the process guy and then bin them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.