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Turns out Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Over System & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Order: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.