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Tbecame clear he was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over System and Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. 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 ideas and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face 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 domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then fire them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.