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Turns out he endured losing against Grimsby. Survive an important European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style of play “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become 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 takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for playing too much that system. Bring in the process guy and later discard them for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.