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Itbecame clear the manager could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding System & Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. But 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 individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss them for playing excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.