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Transpired the manager endured defeat by Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Football Order: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, 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 effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire him for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later bin him for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.