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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured losing against Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over System and Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Authority Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom 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 Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach only to dismiss them for using excessively that system. Hire the project manager and later discard them for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.