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Transpired the manager could survive losing against Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Over System & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing too much 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later discard him for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.