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Transpired he endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Football Order: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially 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 Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.