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Tbecame clear the manager could survive defeat by Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach came at the executive and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority 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 commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.