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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach came at the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Soccer Order: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire them for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later bin him for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.