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Itranspired Ruben Amorim could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final versus one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive home defeats to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s most promising academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Over Formation and Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to abandon his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Power Behind Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he is immensely wealthy, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not creating the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss them for using too much that system. Hire the process guy and later discard him for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.