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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. Survive a decisive continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding System and Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

The Supreme Power In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his 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 as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Order: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies 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 professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly 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 change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss them for using excessively that system. Hire the process guy and then discard him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.