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Turns out the manager was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach came at the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. 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 true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over System and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his reasoning 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 speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

An Supreme Authority In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire them for using too much that system. Bring in the process guy and later bin him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.