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Tbecame clear he could survive defeat by Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding System & Ideology

For example, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later 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 reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.