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Transpired he endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender 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 manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely 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 head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. 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. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

The New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire them for playing too much that system. Hire the process guy and then discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.