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Iturns out the manager could survive a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Regarding System & Ideology

For example, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not creating the food, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later discard them for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.