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Turns out the manager was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence 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 different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. 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 football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Regarding System and Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Supreme Power Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Order: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin them for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.