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Itranspired he endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Authority Behind 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 line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire them for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then discard them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.