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Itranspired the manager could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Over System & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Order: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss them for using excessively that system. Hire the project manager and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.