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Itbecame clear the manager could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach came at the executive and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Over System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own 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 equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Order: Directors Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach only to fire them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then discard them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; 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.