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Transpired the manager endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Regarding System and Philosophy

For example, it was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, 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 secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then bin him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.