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Transpired Ruben Amorim endured defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered a decisive European final against a particularly poor Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, an unwavering system, squandering some of the club’s best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim would not be allowed to tango. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s title-winning 1994-95 season, the coach came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have failed. Even the most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to regard him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: a man who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada as any verifiable talent. How wrong everyone was. In brilliantly outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth before him, he has demonstrated as one of football's true generals: a tactical intellect that United’s mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Clash Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the rigid 3-4-3 advocate Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. However, these judgements hold greater authority when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a role in a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – function on a plane beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being prepared to receive.

The Supreme Authority In Command

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that United’s style to football “shall be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and sailing. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are the best of us: more insightful, sagacious, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like someone’s leftover knitting, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Order: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated major sporting choices to subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once possible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many companies have these guys set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the tactics by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their methods accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not really responsible for the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives poorly or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of literal children into Europe and secures domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose choices remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can always be resolved by sacking without explanation. Hire the system coach and then dismiss them for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and later bin them for taking too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for your new player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.