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Itranspired the manager endured a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, 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. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Over Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – function at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Authority Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Football Order: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later discard him for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.