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Transpired the manager could survive losing against Grimsby. He weathered an important European final versus a particularly poor Tottenham teams in living memory. He could survive losing at home to domestic rivals, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to the team's best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. But there was one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to engage. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, based on his brief stint of experience with the Saints, to view him as merely a drudge within the club's structure: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague a fellow executive as any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

The Strategic Conflict Over System & Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director who having been part of the leadership that hired the rigid 3-4-3 advocate the coach originally, played a key role in trying to persuade him to ditch his beloved 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when issued from the mouth of a man the impeccable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, a veteran of three England caps and a role in a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with full compensation, with no penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers 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 complex calculations. Desiring an explanation is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Power Behind the Throne

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the modern United throne. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, the owner has also proposed deploying the forward in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for United to embrace analytics and analytics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “shall be determined in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate football matters, drawing from his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are superior: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally better. Who else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Soccer Order: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent at the elite levels football. For decades, teams mistakenly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – players themselves. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and drive to go into an organization and see their vision supported to fruition. But how many businesses have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they managed? Far preferable to place genuine authority where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were once chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the product, but still ultimately answerable should it be delivered cold or fails to meet standards.

Nowadays, their job is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about marketing it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead of an organisation they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively is dismissed for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Game: Accountability Only for the Few

And perhaps on some microcosmic level this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then fire him for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then discard him for requiring too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the fact that the grownups – however well qualified – remain in control.