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Transpired he could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed 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' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding System & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. 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 data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Order: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire them 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 the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.