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Transpired the manager was able to withstand losing against Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece versus one of the worst Tottenham teams for many years. He could survive losing at home against domestic rivals, finishing 15th, the tactical inflexibility, squandering some of the club’s best academy products, a poor winning percentage, calling his team the worst in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed one adversary with whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the irony here: a coach who often railed his squad for failing in one-on-one duels succumbing when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared sporting directors.

And frankly, this whole painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself as one of football's strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect that the club's mid-table rivals will now be rightly wary.

A Tactical Conflict Regarding Formation and Ideology

For example, it was the director who having been part of the hierarchy that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade him to abandon his favored 3-4-3. Naturally, these entreaties were resisted. But perhaps these judgements carry more weight when delivered by a man of a man the unimpeachable soccer background of Jason Wilcox, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point he might be asked why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, without any compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals in football – men like him – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the real power behind the club's current leadership. Jason Wilcox is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his line manager Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and metrics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “shall be decided in this room”.

After all, Ratcliffe is a specialist in this technical football matters, leveraging his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more insightful, more wise, more tactically astute, simply better. Whom else would you trust to manage an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears similar to an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New Football Hierarchy: Directors Over Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to low-level employees such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for an up-and-coming, visionary coach with a philosophy and drive to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals established? How many large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Better by far to invest the real power where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to determine the tactics in the boardroom and hire a coach who will adapt their methods to suit. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not creating the product, yet ultimately answerable if it arrives 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 public face for a club they have minimal power to influence. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and wins two medium-sized trophies, and essentially is dismissed for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his reputation ruined whereas those individuals who appointed him continue to make errors indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance in action: the elevation of a gilded elite who are infallible, whose decisions are always untouchable, whose mistakes can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss him for playing too much that system. Hire the process guy and then discard them for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental season ticket price rises, for the latest summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.