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Transpired the manager endured losing against Grimsby. Survive a decisive continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, 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 engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding System & Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for playing too much that system. Hire the process guy and later bin them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.