Interesting take. Never thought of it like that before.
What makes you think that?
Eh, long-time experience in similar circles. You get to see the type. A
hell of a lot. The "kids-actually-own-the-stuff-but-have-the-steward-manage-and-sign-off-on-everything" arrangement. Also am American and picked things up about the Glazers through social osmosis. Avram was 'CEO' of a dying company (and put there by his dad to practice, nonetheless); Bryan Glazer went to law school, but to a school that you just nod politiely when you hear its name - if you even recognize it - in the topmost circles (And if you do recognize it, you do so because it's a joke school, as in "
If you don't study hard, ________ is the only law school you'll get into"). Things like that. Little signs that the kids are nowhere near as capable as the father. None of the kids ever built/acheieved anything like their father did. Papa Glazer is the only one who ever built/did anything successful, whatever one may think of his mores.
Anyway, obviously he'll (Woodward) defer to them on some things and it may even be that they've grown out of their father's shadow a bit (the 'Martial is our Pele' thing for example). And obviously they can technically fire him, and have "final sign off" on things.
It's also kind of common sense. King wants to buy a castle. Heirs are nowhere near as savvy as the king. Literally everyone in the land says no we can't help you buy that castle. One vizier says, there is a way; helps buy the king the castle. King dies. Vizier tells the heirs: don't worry, I'll keep us within a certain bandwidth. Kids are mostly going to defer to that vizier when it comes to the nuts and bolts of operations. Most people will have seen a similar arrangement in a movie or TV show or book, or even real life.
Point is just that Woodward isn't their "puppet". And going forward, it may be useful for the fanbase to understand the nuances. It's much more complex and dynamic than that.