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Itbecame clear Ruben Amorim endured a loss to lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, squandering some of the club’s most promising academy products, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent with whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and appears to have failed. Even the most casual observer can see the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in individual battles succumbing when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, given his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to regard him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless a previous executive before him, he has proved himself as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Strategic Clash Over System & Philosophy

To illustrate, this was Jason Wilcox , after having been part of the leadership that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Unsurprisingly, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Perhaps in time he might agree to explain his reasoning to the rest of us. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. But Jason Wilcox seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The true intellectuals in football – individuals such as him – function at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who in private has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that United’s style of play “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, strategically brilliant, fundamentally superior. Whom else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of a new striker?

A Modern Football Order: Executives Over Managers

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees such as coaches, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to join a club and see their vision through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly 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. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while the people who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this represents neoliberalism in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be sacked away without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using excessively that system. Hire the process guy and then discard him for requiring excessive time. And above all show gratitude; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.