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Itranspired the manager was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

For example, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, 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 someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to 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, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for playing too much that system. Hire the process guy and later bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.