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Iturns out he was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over Formation and Ideology

For example, this was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Order: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss them for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then bin them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.