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Iturns out Ruben Amorim endured losing against lower-league opposition. Survive a decisive continental showpiece against one of the worst Tottenham teams in living memory. He withstood losing at home to domestic rivals, a lowly league position, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have missed. The most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for losing individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most intimidating football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga appears to portray Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, just as he bested the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, Jason Wilcox has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Over System and Ideology

For example, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when issued by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Ultimate Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided by this group”.

After all, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in petrochemicals and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Who else could one trust to manage an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a new stadium that looks similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Football Order: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join a club and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their methods accordingly. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Few

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Appoint the system coach only to dismiss them for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later bin him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.