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Turns out he could survive losing against Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding System & Philosophy

For example, this was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level 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 the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for playing too much that system. Hire the project manager and then bin him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.