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Iturns out the manager was able to withstand losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and seems to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared 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 with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Over System & Ideology

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo 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 announced that United’s style to football “will be decided in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy 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 construction of a new stadium that looks a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then discard him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.