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Itbecame clear he could survive losing against Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Over System & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, 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 ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach only to dismiss him for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.