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Itbecame clear the manager was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among football's true generals: a strategic mind of which the club's competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Conflict Regarding System and Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox who being involved in the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach of play “shall be decided by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a new stadium that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But 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 belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really creating the product, yet finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach and then fire them for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.