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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of 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 individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. 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 talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later bin him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.