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Transpired he was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. Survive a decisive continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him 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 a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding System and Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Order: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using excessively that system. Hire the project manager and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.