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Itranspired he could survive defeat by Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. 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 formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given 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 largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach only to dismiss him for using too much that system. Bring in the project manager and then discard them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.