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Turns out the manager could survive defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

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, in reality, merely executing the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Football Order: Directors 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 low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then bin them for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.