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Turns out the manager endured defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Supreme Authority Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for using excessively that system. Hire the process guy and later bin him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.