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Turns out he was able to withstand losing against lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Over System and Philosophy

For example, it was the director who being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Order: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss them for using excessively that system. Hire the process guy and then bin them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.