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Transpired he endured losing against Grimsby. Survive an important European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Over System and Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Order: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach only to dismiss him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.