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Tbecame clear the manager endured losing against Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have missed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Over System & Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Order: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard him for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.