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Tbecame clear he could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach came at the executive and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over System & Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme 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 Soccer Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager 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? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss them for playing too much 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.