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Transpired Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers 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 intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared 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 of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire them for playing too much that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.