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Transpired Ruben Amorim endured losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been easy, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The New Football Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible 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 established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to fire them for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for taking excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.