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Tbecame clear he was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Order: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it 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 appoint someone who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, 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 wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then fire him for using too much that system. Bring in the process guy and later bin him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.