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Iturns out the manager was able to withstand losing against lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Order: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.