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Itbecame clear he could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding System and Ideology

For example, this was the director who having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. 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, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach only to dismiss him for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later bin them for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.