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Itbecame clear he could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for losing individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was the director , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Power In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach only to fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later discard him for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.