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Itbecame clear he endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Authority In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing 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 effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.