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Iturns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive home defeats against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Over Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was the director who being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Soccer Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, 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 established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire them for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.