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Turns out the manager was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent 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 Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months 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 as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Over System & Philosophy

For example, it was the director who being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Football Order: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less 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 influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire him for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later bin him for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.