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Itbecame clear the manager endured losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In 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 directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs 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. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then discard him for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.