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Transpired the manager could survive defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, 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 at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over Formation & Philosophy

For example, this was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, 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 all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

The Supreme Power Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable 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 by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for using excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.