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Itranspired Ruben Amorim could survive losing against lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Over Formation and Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Order: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.