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Itranspired Ruben Amorim was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Over System & Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, such directives carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative 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 Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach only to fire them for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later bin them for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.