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Iturns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding System & Philosophy

For example, this was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference 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. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not creating the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach only to dismiss them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.