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Transpired he was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who often railed at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire 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. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not creating the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing excessively that system. Hire the process guy and then bin him for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.