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Iturns out he endured defeat by Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’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 was not permitted to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

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 a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join a club and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss him for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.