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Turns out he could survive losing against Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, 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 the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, 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 irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for playing too much that system. Hire the project manager and later discard him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.