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Turns out the manager endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, this was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Soccer Order: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.