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Transpired Ruben Amorim endured defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not creating the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin 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.