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Turns out Ruben Amorim could survive a loss to lower-league opposition. Survive an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard him as merely a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated to be among football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties faced pushback. However, these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of a new striker?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to subordinate staff such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the tactics by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later discard him for requiring too long. And most importantly show gratitude; 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.