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Transpired he was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view 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 his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach 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? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach only to fire them for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.