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Turns out the manager could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece against 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, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Regarding System & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate 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 equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. 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. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for using too much that system. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.