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Turns out he was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Over Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then discard him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.