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Tbecame clear the manager endured a loss to Grimsby. Survive a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Regarding System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Power In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach only to fire him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later bin them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.