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Turns out the manager could survive a loss to Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for playing too much that system. Hire the project manager and then bin him for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.