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Iturns out Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his brief stint of experience at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Regarding Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, such directives carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time 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 penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In 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 line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Order: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach only to fire them for using too much that system. Hire the project manager and then bin him for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.