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Transpired the manager was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The New Football Order: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach only to fire him for playing excessively that system. Hire the project manager and then discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.