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Transpired he could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Over System and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using excessively that system. Hire the project manager and later bin them for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.