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Itbecame clear the manager could survive losing against Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was the director who being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later bin them for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.