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Transpired the manager was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Over System and Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy 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 overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. 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 finds his standing damaged while the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.