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Turns out he endured losing against Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach came at the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was the director who being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.