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Iturns out the manager endured a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent 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 Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and then discard them for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.