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Transpired he endured a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man 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 outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power 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 preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for using too much that system. Hire the project manager and later discard him for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.