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Turns out the manager endured defeat by Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above 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. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach and then fire them for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.