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Turns out the manager could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Over Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then fire him for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin them for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.