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Turns out the manager endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Regarding Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director who being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Power In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: 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 new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then discard them for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.