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Iturns out the manager endured a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. 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 United’s style to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to join a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.