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Iturns out the manager could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing 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 domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing too much that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.