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Transpired he endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he 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 penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then bin them for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.