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Turns out he endured defeat by Grimsby. He weathered a decisive continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, laying waste to the team's best academy products, the 32% win rate, labeling his team the worst in Manchester United history. But there was one adversary against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to engage. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Regrettably, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers will notice the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed at his players for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the intense pressure and animal charisma of a the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this entire painful saga seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been easy, given his nine months in a similar role with the Saints, to view him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: a man whose appointment was due largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How wrong everyone was. By masterfully outmanoeuvring the club's celebrated manager, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a tactical intellect of which the club's mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

The Tactical Clash Over Formation & Philosophy

For example, it was Jason Wilcox who having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach originally, played a key role in attempting to convince him to ditch his beloved formation. Naturally, these pleas faced pushback. But perhaps such directives carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, a veteran of international appearances and a contributor to a title-winning side decades past.

Maybe eventually Jason Wilcox might agree to outline his thought processes publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise why Amorim is departing with full compensation, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level beyond our own prosaic understanding. If he ever did speak, most likely all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and complex calculations. Wanting is not quite the same as being ready to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority In Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we overlook the real power behind the club's current leadership. The director is, in reality, simply carrying out the commands of his ultimate superior the billionaire owner, who in private has emphasized his desire for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed deploying the forward as a right wing-back. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt analytics and analytics. Per reports, during a leadership summit soon after his investment, he announced that United’s style of play “will be decided in this room”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is an expert in this technical footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Most importantly he is incredibly rich, and as we all know, the rich are superior: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply better. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Order: Executives Over Coaches

This represents a shift that is becoming prevalent in top-tier of the game. Historically, teams mistakenly delegated major sporting choices to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, visionary coach with ideas and drive to join an organization and see their vision through to completion. But how many businesses have these guys established? What number of mass redundancies have they overseen? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the open-necked shirt brigade, the individuals with impressive professional resumes. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If coaches were formerly chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not creating the food, yet finally accountable if it arrives poorly or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role is increasingly not about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the receptionist of the operation, the visible figurehead of an organisation they can do little to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of literal children into Europe and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while the people who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Game: Responsibility for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged elite who are infallible, whose decisions remain sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Hire the system coach and then fire them for using excessively 3-4-3. Bring in the process guy and then discard him for taking excessive time. And most importantly be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the reality that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.