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Transpired the manager endured defeat by Grimsby. Survive a decisive European final against one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He withstood losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining some of the club’s best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling his team the poorest the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. If you challenge the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship 1994-95 season, Amorim took on the executive and seems to have missed. The most casual observer can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who frequently berated at his players for losing one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of a England's top division's most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: a man whose appointment was due largely to his close relationship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of football's strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

The Strategic Conflict Over System and Ideology

For example, this was the director , after having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his beloved formation. Naturally, these entreaties met a certain resistance. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when delivered by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes publicly. Maybe one day questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, with no penalty clause in place. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The real thinkers in football – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level exceeding our prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely we would perceive would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not quite equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate line manager the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace data science and analytics. According to ESPN, during a leadership summit early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be determined by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Whom else would you trust to oversee an enlightened programme of austerity, the building of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

The Modern Soccer Order: Directors Above Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. For decades, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with ideas and drive to join a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and appoint someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they are now more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not really responsible for the product, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, their job is increasingly not about defining the vision and more about marketing it: the receptionist on the front desk, the public face for a club they can do little to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively gets sacked for speaking out. A manager at Celtic sees his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Neoliberal Game: Accountability for the Coaches

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism at work: the elevation of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose mistakes can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to fire him for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and then discard them for taking too long. And above all be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – however well qualified – are in charge.