In the drink company chairman's position (9)
I believe the answer is:
overboard
'in' is the definition.
Both the definition and answer are adverbs. Perhaps there's a link between them I don't understand?
'drink company chairman's position' is the wordplay.
I cannot quite see how this works, but
'position' could be 'over' (I have seen 'superior position' mean 'over' so perhaps 'position' could also mean 'over') and 'over' is found within the answer.
The remaining letters 'board' is a valid word which might be clued in a way I don't see.
This may be the basis of the clue (or it may be nonsense).
'the' acts as a link.
Can you help me to learn more?
(Other definitions for overboard that I've seen before include "OTT" , "(Going) from a ship into the water" , "Off boat into water" , "(Fall) into the sea" , "Man ??? - he's fallen off the ship" .)