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Transpired he endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over System & Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction 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 all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

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 Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for using excessively that system. Hire the process guy and then discard them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.