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Transpired the manager was able to withstand defeat by lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge 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 mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties met a certain resistance. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – function at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power In Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, 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 appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.