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Transpired he endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach and then dismiss him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then discard him for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.