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Transpired he could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, 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. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach came at the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Over Formation & Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually 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 a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Authority In Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Order: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for using too much that system. Hire the project manager and then bin him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.