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Turns out the manager could survive defeat by Grimsby. Survive an important European final against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach came at the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of 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 the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, 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 appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, 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 will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later discard him for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.