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Itranspired he could survive a loss to Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice 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 formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was the director who being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out 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 visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for requiring excessive time. 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 – are in charge.