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Transpired he endured defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice 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 animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for using too much that system. Hire the process guy and then discard them for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.