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Iturns out the manager could survive losing against Grimsby. He weathered an important European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not 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 receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach and then fire them for playing too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later bin him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.