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Itranspired the manager was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Over Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director who being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later discard them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.