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Turns out he endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over System and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own 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 quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for using too much that system. Bring in 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 reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.