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Iturns out the manager was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Regarding System and Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later bin him for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.