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Turns out Ruben Amorim endured a loss to Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He withstood home defeats to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, laying waste to the team's best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous top-flight right-back in Blackburn’s championship 1994-95 season, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. Even the most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for losing individual battles succumbing in the face of the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most intimidating football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position as much to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Conflict Over System and Philosophy

To illustrate, it was the director , after having been part of the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these pleas met a certain resistance. However, such directives hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Perhaps in time Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – men like him – simply operate on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Authority Behind Command

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, simply carrying out the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “shall be decided by this group”.

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

A New Soccer Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier of the game. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to subordinate staff like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Maybe previously feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach 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? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy by the directors and hire someone who can tailor their methods accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not responsible for the product, but still ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job has become not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents neoliberalism in action: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach only to dismiss him for playing excessively that system. Bring in the process guy and later discard him for requiring excessive time. And most importantly show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.