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Turns out Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. Survive a decisive continental showpiece versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, his rigid approach, squandering the team's most promising homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray 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 merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over System & Ideology

For example, this was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – men like him – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably all we would hear is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a four-man defense. According to reports, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

The New Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to join a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to invest genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and then bin them for taking excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.