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Turns out he could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Over System and Ideology

For example, this was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that United’s style to football “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.