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Turns out the manager was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was the director , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and then discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.