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Iturns out Ruben Amorim endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Ideology

For example, it was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Order: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach only to dismiss them for playing too much that system. Bring in the process guy and then bin them for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.