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Turns out Ruben Amorim endured a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man 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 outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Over System and Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate 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 prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Order: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, but still 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 selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using too much that system. Hire the project manager 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 fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.