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Transpired he could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive a decisive continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Regarding System & Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then discard him for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.