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Iturns out Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive 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 worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach came at the executive and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

The Strategic Clash Regarding Formation and Philosophy

For example, this was the director , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply superior. Who else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A New Soccer Order: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the system coach and then fire him for playing too much that system. Hire the project manager and then discard them for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.