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Turns out Ruben Amorim endured defeat by Grimsby. Survive an important European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive home defeats against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s title-winning campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga seems to paint Jason Wilcox in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been easy, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada as any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s true generals: a strategic mind that the club's mid-table rivals are now rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding System and Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director who being involved in the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince Amorim to ditch his favored 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. But Jason Wilcox speaks rarely publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level exceeding our mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else would you 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: Directors Over Coaches

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing at the elite levels of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to join an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they managed? Far preferable to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics by the directors and appoint someone who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out of the box.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist of the operation, the public face for a club they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures two medium-sized trophies, and essentially gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while the people who appointed him continue to make errors another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the elevation of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later bin him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.