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Iturns out Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding Formation & Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for using too much that system. Hire the project manager and later discard them for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.