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Transpired Ruben Amorim endured a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Over Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Order: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it 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 will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire them for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.