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Iturns out the manager endured a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that the club's competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Over System and Philosophy

For example, this was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

The New Soccer Order: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only 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 remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin him for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.