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Tbecame clear the manager was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Over Formation & Ideology

For example, this was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals 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 elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard them for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.