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Turns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand losing against lower-league opposition. He weathered an important European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at the executive and seems to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated at his players for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view Jason Wilcox as little more than a drudge within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due as much to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over Formation and Ideology

For example, this was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he might agree to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. 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 speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we overlook the real power behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his desire for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and yachting. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Order: Executives Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people 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 gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Appoint the system coach only to fire him for playing too much that system. Hire the project manager and later discard him for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – remain in control.