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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Over System & Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into a club 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 invest the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach and then fire them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and then discard him for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.