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Transpired he endured defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. 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 quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using excessively that system. Hire the process guy and later bin him for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.