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Turns out Ruben Amorim could survive defeat by Grimsby. Survive an important European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due as much to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind that the club's competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Regarding System and Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to receive.

An Supreme Authority In the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then fire them for using too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.