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Itbecame clear the manager was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, 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 can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later bin them for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.