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Tbecame clear the manager could survive defeat by Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’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 tempting, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes 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. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Authority In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then discard them for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.