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Turns out Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth 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 Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. 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 leaks out 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 for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later discard him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.