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Iturns out he endured a loss to Grimsby. Survive a decisive continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss him for using excessively that system. Hire the process guy and later discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.