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Itbecame clear he could survive losing against Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Regarding System & Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Football Order: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of 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 the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined while the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach only to dismiss him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and then discard him for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.