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Iturns out he could survive losing against lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power In Command

Naturally, 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 commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Football Order: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then discard him for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.