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Turns out the manager could survive losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Regarding System and Ideology

For example, it was the director who being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps 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 role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing excessively that system. Hire the project manager and later bin them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.