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Transpired Ruben Amorim could survive losing against Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Over System and Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Supreme Power In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.