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Tbecame clear he could survive defeat by Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling 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 Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, 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 a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist 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 Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss him for playing too much that system. Bring in the process guy and then discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.