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Turns out he was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach came at the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Over System and Philosophy

For example, this was the director , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss him for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin them for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.