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Tbecame clear the manager endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then fire them for playing too much that system. Hire the project manager and then bin him for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.