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Transpired he could survive a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have failed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding System & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become not 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 influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.