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Tbecame clear the manager endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over System and Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins 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.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach only to dismiss them for playing too much that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard 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 adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.