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Transpired the manager endured losing against Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over System & Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director who being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later bin them for taking too long. 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.