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Tbecame clear the manager was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive an important European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over System & Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. 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 the same as being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Soccer Order: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have these guys set up? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism at work: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and then bin them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.