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Turns out Ruben Amorim endured defeat by lower-league opposition. He weathered an important continental showpiece against a particularly poor Spurs sides for many years. He withstood losing at home against West Ham and Wolves, a lowly league position, an unwavering system, undermining the team's best homegrown talent, a poor winning percentage, calling the squad the worst the club has ever seen. Yet, there existed a single opponent against whom Ruben Amorim was not permitted to tango. You come at the sporting director, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, similar to numerous top-flight right-back during Blackburn Rovers' title-winning campaign, Amorim came at the executive and seems to have failed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a coach who frequently berated his squad for failing in one-on-one duels crumbling when confronted by the intense pressure and formidable presence of a the Premier League’s most feared sporting directors.

In truth, this whole bruising episode seems to paint the director in a different perspective. It may have been tempting, based on his brief stint in a similar role with the Saints, to regard him as little more than a drudge in the United exoskeleton: an individual who owed his position largely to his friendship with ex-colleague Omar Berrada rather than any demonstrable skill. How mistaken we all were. In brilliantly outsmarting the club's celebrated head coach, as he outmanoeuvred the unfortunate Dan Ashworth earlier, he has demonstrated as one of the sport’s strategic masterminds: a strategic mind of which United’s mid-table rivals will now be justifiably concerned.

A Tactical Conflict Over Formation & Ideology

To illustrate, it was the director who having been part of the leadership that appointed the 3-4-3 fundamentalist the coach 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 carry more weight when issued from the mouth with the impeccable football pedigree of Jason Wilcox, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he may be persuaded to outline his thought processes to the rest of us. Maybe one day he might be asked regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause in place. The director seldom speaks in public, and with very good reason. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as Jason Wilcox – function 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 the same as being prepared to comprehend it.

An Ultimate Authority Behind the Throne

But of course, in training our focus on Jason Wilcox we are obscuring the real power behind the modern United throne. Jason Wilcox is, in reality, merely executing the directives of his superior the billionaire owner, who privately has made very clear his desire for a back four. It is reported, the owner has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo as a right wing-back. The owner is eager for United to embrace data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting soon after his minority ownership, he announced that United’s style to football “will be decided by this group”.

Ultimately, Ratcliffe is a specialist in these intricate footballing stuff, drawing from his background in industry and sailing. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and it is known, the rich are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, strategically brilliant, simply superior. Whom else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of austerity, the construction of a modern arena that appears a lot like an abstract design, the signing of Benjamin Sesko?

A New Football Hierarchy: Executives Above Managers

This is a trend we are increasingly seeing in top-tier football. Historically, clubs foolishly entrusted big footballing decisions to low-level employees like managers, talent spotters – players themselves. Perhaps it was once possible for an up-and-coming, innovative manager with ideas and energy to go into a club and see their vision through to completion. But how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of large-scale layoffs have they overseen? Far preferable to place the real power where it belongs: the leadership tier, the casually dressed executives, the individuals with impressive LinkedIn profiles. It is wiser to decide the strategy by the directors and hire a coach who will adapt their offering to suit. If coaches were once chefs, they have become more like delivery personnel: not creating the food, but still finally accountable should it be delivered cold or leaks out to meet standards.

Nowadays, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative of the operation, the visible figurehead for a club they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea leads a team of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for talking. A manager at Celtic finds his reputation ruined while those individuals who hired him live to blunder another day.

The Neoliberal Football: Accountability for the Coaches

And perhaps in a small way this is simply corporate governance at work: the rise of a privileged overclass who are infallible, whose choices are always untouchable, whose errors can invariably be resolved by sacking without justification. Appoint the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss him for using too much 3-4-3. Bring in the project manager and later bin them for requiring excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for the latest player acquisitions, for the fact that the grownups – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.