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Transpired the manager could survive a loss to Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Over System & Philosophy

For example, it was the director who being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Soccer Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and then bin him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.