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Turns out the manager was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who often railed 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 entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: 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 marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss them for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.