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Turns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Over System & Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for using too much that system. Bring in the process guy and later bin them for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.