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Iturns out he endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered an important European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Over Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire them for using too much that system. Hire the process guy and then discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.