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Iturns out he was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed at his players for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Over Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.