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Transpired Ruben Amorim was able to withstand a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach took on the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like Jason Wilcox – function at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, merely executing the commands of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of a new striker?

The Modern Football Order: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. Enzo Maresca leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a gilded overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later bin him for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.