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Itbecame clear the manager could survive losing against lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining 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 one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later discard him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.