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Transpired he was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach only to fire him for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.