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Iturns out he endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, this 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 attempting to convince him to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach and then dismiss them for using too much 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin them for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.