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Itranspired the manager was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then discard him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.