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Transpired Ruben Amorim was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Regarding System and Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Supreme Authority In the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach only to fire them for playing too much that system. Hire the process guy and later bin him for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.