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Turns out the manager endured defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation and Philosophy

For example, it was the director who being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Football Order: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, 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 influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for using too much that system. Hire the project manager and later discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.