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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Over System and Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely 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.

An Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss them for using excessively that system. Hire the process guy and then bin him for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.