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Turns out he was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Regarding System & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward 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 announced that the team's approach of play “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Football Order: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, 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 domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then fire them for playing excessively that system. Hire the project manager and later bin them for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.