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Turns out Ruben Amorim was able to withstand defeat by Grimsby. He weathered an important continental showpiece against one of the worst Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, laying waste to the team's most promising homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, labeling the squad the poorest in Manchester United history. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach would not be allowed to dance. If you challenge Jason Wilcox, you had better succeed.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous Premiership right-back in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim took on the executive and appears to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the irony here: a manager who often railed his squad for losing individual battles crumbling when confronted by the white heat and animal charisma of one of the Premier League’s most feared football executives.

And frankly, this whole painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. It may have been tempting, based on his nine months in a similar role at Southampton, to view him as merely a functionary in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position as much to his friendship with his former boss Omar Berrada rather than any verifiable talent. How mistaken we all were. By masterfully outmanoeuvring United’s feted head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth before him, he has proved himself to be among football's true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s competitors are now rightly wary.

The Tactical Clash Over System and Ideology

To illustrate, this was the director , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to abandon his favored formation. Naturally, these pleas were resisted. However, these judgements carry more weight when delivered from the mouth with the impeccable soccer background he possesses, holder of international appearances and a contributor to a championship team decades past.

Perhaps in time he may be persuaded to outline his reasoning publicly. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is walking away with full compensation, with no compensation reduction clause activated. The director speaks rarely publicly, and with very good reason. The true intellectuals of this sport – individuals such as him – simply operate at a level beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably we would perceive is a series of ultrasonic blips and four-dimensional whirring. Desiring an explanation is not equivalent to being ready to receive.

An Ultimate Power Behind Command

But of course, in training our focus on the sporting director we are obscuring the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the commands of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has made very clear his preference for a back four. According to reports, Ratcliffe has also proposed playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. The owner is eager for the club to adopt analytics and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his investment, he declared that the team's approach of play “will be determined in this room”.

After all, Sir Jim is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, leveraging his background in petrochemicals and sailing. Above all he is incredibly rich, and it is known, the wealthy are superior: more perceptive, sagacious, strategically brilliant, simply better. Whom else could one trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of Benjamin Sesko?

A Modern Football Hierarchy: Directors Above Managers

This represents a shift we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. For decades, clubs foolishly delegated big footballing decisions to subordinate staff like managers, scouts – even footballers. Perhaps it was once feasible for a young, innovative manager with a philosophy and drive to go into an organization and implement their plan supported to fruition. But how many businesses have these guys set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it rightly belongs: the executive class, the open-necked shirt brigade, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and appoint a coach who will adapt their offering accordingly. If managers were formerly chefs, they are now more akin to delivery personnel: not really creating the food, yet ultimately answerable should it be delivered poorly or leaks out of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become not about defining the vision and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the visible figurehead for a club they can do little to change. Enzo Maresca takes a squad of very young players into Europe and wins domestic cups, and effectively gets sacked for talking. Wilfried Nancy sees his standing damaged while those individuals who hired him continue to make errors another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this represents corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose decisions are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without explanation. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach and then dismiss them for using excessively 3-4-3. Hire the project manager and later discard him for requiring too long. And above all show gratitude; for your modest season ticket price rises, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – remain in control.