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Turns out Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, undermining the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Football Order: Executives Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, 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 for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.