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Transpired Ruben Amorim endured a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered losing a crucial European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most distracted of readers will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director 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 functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox 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 line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach only to dismiss him for using too much that system. Bring in the project manager and then discard him for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.