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Itbecame clear he could survive losing against lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive European final versus one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, undermining some of the club’s most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have missed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his brief stint in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position largely to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Clash Over System & Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after being involved in the hierarchy that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when delivered 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.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not the same as being prepared to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

After all, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the building of a new stadium that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many companies have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more like Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas the people who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for playing too much that system. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.