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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation & Ideology

For example, this was the director , after being involved in the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility 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 decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin them for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.