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Transpired Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding System & Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.