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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured losing against Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague 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 a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Over System and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim 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. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man with the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later discard him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.