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Transpired the manager endured losing against Grimsby. Survive an important continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, undermining the team's most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and appears to have missed. Even the most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the hapless a previous executive before him, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Regarding Formation & Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee 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 Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with ideas and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined whereas the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.