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Iturns out he was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and seems to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Over System and Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. 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, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later bin them for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.