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Tbecame clear the manager could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have failed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Over Formation & Ideology

For example, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for playing too much 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.