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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 for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be determined in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for playing too much that system. Hire the process guy and later bin him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.