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Tbecame clear Ruben Amorim was able to withstand a loss to Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, laying waste to some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to tango. You come at Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, the coach took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, based on his nine months of experience with the Saints, to regard Jason Wilcox as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind that United’s competitors are now justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Over System and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks publicly, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear would be ultrasonic blips and complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

The Supreme Power In Command

Naturally, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate football matters, leveraging his previous experience in petrochemicals and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Order: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. Yet how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into Europe and secures two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him live to blunder indefinitely.

The Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the rise of a gilded overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain untouchable, whose errors can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then bin him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.