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Turns out Ruben Amorim endured a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked 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 him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? 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. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for using too much that system. Hire the project manager and then discard them for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.