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Turns out Ruben Amorim endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive before him, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Clash Regarding System & Ideology

For example, it was the director who being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to receive.

The Ultimate Authority Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A New Football Order: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and later discard them for requiring too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.