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Iturns out Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who often railed his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated 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 United’s mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after being involved in the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, was instrumental in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority Behind Command

But of course, 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 commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and then bin him for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.