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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured losing against Grimsby. He weathered a decisive European final against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a Premiership right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a manager who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, 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 view him as little more than a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors will now be justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over System & Ideology

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with a full payout, with no penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – simply operate on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. Were he to speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to receive.

The Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his ultimate line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he announced that the team's approach to football “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his previous experience in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to oversee a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that looks similar to someone’s leftover knitting, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The New Football Order: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. 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. But how many businesses have such individuals set up? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not responsible for the food, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Neoliberal Football: Responsibility Only for the Coaches

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the elevation of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the system coach and then dismiss him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the project manager and then bin them for taking too long. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.