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Tbecame clear he endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, undermining 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 against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that the club's competitors are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – men like him – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

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 ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately 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 analytics and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Order: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire a coach who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing too much that system. Bring in the process guy and later discard him for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.