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Itranspired the manager was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. He weathered losing a crucial continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home against domestic rivals, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining the team's most promising academy products, 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 would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, you had better succeed.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership defender during Blackburn Rovers' championship campaign, the coach took on Jason Wilcox and appears to have failed. The most casual observer will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for failing in individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and formidable presence of one of England's top division's most feared football executives.

In truth, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a different perspective. Perhaps it might have been tempting, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting the club's celebrated manager, just as he bested the unfortunate a previous executive before him, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's competitors will now be rightly wary.

The Tactical Conflict Over System and Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox , after being involved in the leadership that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim originally, played a key role in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his beloved formation. Unsurprisingly, these pleas were resisted. But perhaps such directives hold greater authority when issued by a man of a man the impeccable football pedigree he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side from 31 years ago.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to explain his thought processes to the rest of us. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – men like Jason Wilcox – function on a plane exceeding our prosaic understanding. Were he to speak, most likely all we would hear would be high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being prepared to comprehend it.

The Supreme Authority Behind Command

Naturally, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, simply carrying out the directives of his ultimate superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for United to embrace analytics and metrics. Per reports, in an executive meeting early in his minority ownership, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is a specialist in this technical footballing stuff, leveraging his background in industry and yachting. Most importantly he remains immensely wealthy, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more insightful, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else could one trust to oversee an enlightened programme of cost-cutting, the construction of a new stadium that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This is a trend that is becoming prevalent in top-tier football. Historically, teams mistakenly entrusted major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, scouts – even footballers. Maybe previously feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys established? How many mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place genuine authority where it rightly belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the tactics in the boardroom and hire someone who can tailor their offering to suit. If managers were formerly chefs, they have become more akin to Deliveroo drivers: not creating the product, but still finally accountable if it arrives cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the public face for a club they have minimal power to change. Enzo Maresca leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and wins two medium-sized trophies, and effectively is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his standing damaged while those individuals who appointed him live to blunder indefinitely.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability Only for the Coaches

And possibly on some microcosmic level this is simply corporate governance in action: the rise of a privileged overclass who can never be wrong, whose decisions remain untouchable, whose errors can always be sacked away without justification. Hire the system coach and then dismiss him for playing too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later bin him for taking too long. And most importantly be grateful; for the incremental increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the grownups – however well qualified – are in charge.