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Transpired the manager endured a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach took on the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach 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 painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Over System and Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, 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 by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Order: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later discard them for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.