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Turns out he could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who often railed at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given 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 who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Over System & Ideology

For example, this was the director who being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.