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Transpired the manager was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Regarding Formation and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away 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 beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Authority In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Order: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.