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Tbecame clear the manager could survive defeat by Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Regarding System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to receive.

An Supreme Authority Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way 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 explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for using too much that system. Bring in the process guy and later discard him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.