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Tbecame clear the manager was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – function on a plane 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 ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later discard him for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.