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Transpired the manager endured a loss to Grimsby. Survive an important European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Over System and Ideology

To illustrate, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man 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 he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – simply operate at a level beyond our own 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 quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach and then dismiss him for using excessively that system. Hire the process guy and later discard them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.