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Turns out he could survive losing against Grimsby. Survive losing a crucial European final versus a particularly poor Spurs sides in living memory. He could survive losing at home to West Ham and Wolves, finishing 15th, his rigid approach, undermining some of the club’s best homegrown talent, the 32% win rate, calling the squad the worst in Manchester United history. But there was a single opponent against whom the Portuguese coach was not permitted to dance. You come at Jason Wilcox, and you best not miss.

Unfortunately, like many a top-flight defender in Blackburn’s championship campaign, Amorim came at Jason Wilcox and seems to have missed. The most distracted of readers can see the paradoxical situation: a manager who often railed his squad for losing one-on-one duels crumbling in the face of the white heat and animal charisma of a England's top division's most intimidating sporting directors.

In truth, this entire painful saga appears to portray the director in a whole new light. Perhaps it might have been easy, given his nine months of experience at Southampton, to view him as merely a functionary within the club's structure: an individual who owed his position largely to his close relationship with his former boss a fellow executive rather than any verifiable talent. How wrong we all were. By masterfully outsmarting United’s feted manager, as he outmanoeuvred the hapless Dan Ashworth earlier, he has proved himself to be among the sport’s true generals: a tactical intellect of which United’s mid-table rivals are now justifiably concerned.

A Strategic Conflict Over System and Ideology

For example, this was the director , after having been part of the hierarchy that hired the 3-4-3 fundamentalist Amorim in the first place, was instrumental in trying to persuade Amorim to ditch his favored formation. Unsurprisingly, these entreaties faced pushback. But perhaps these judgements hold greater authority when issued by a man with the unimpeachable football pedigree he possesses, holder of three England caps and a role in a championship team decades past.

Maybe eventually he might agree to outline his reasoning publicly. Perhaps at some point questions may arise regarding why the coach is departing with a full payout, without any penalty clause activated. The director speaks rarely in public, for excellent reasons. The real thinkers of this sport – individuals such as him – function on a plane beyond our own mundane comprehension. If he ever did speak, probably all we would hear is a series of high-frequency signals and four-dimensional whirring. Wanting is not equivalent to being ready to comprehend it.

An Supreme Power In the Throne

But of course, by focusing our attention on the sporting director we overlook the true genius behind the club's current leadership. The director is, after all, merely executing the directives of his superior Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who privately has emphasized his preference for a four-man defense. It is reported, Ratcliffe has also suggested playing Bryan Mbeumo in a wing-back role. Ratcliffe is keen for the club to adopt data science and metrics. According to ESPN, in an executive meeting early in his investment, he declared that the team's approach to football “will be determined in this room”.

Ultimately, Sir Jim is an expert in this technical football matters, leveraging his previous experience in industry and yachting. Above all he remains incredibly rich, and as we all know, the wealthy are the best of us: more perceptive, more wise, more tactically astute, fundamentally superior. Who else would you trust to manage a strategic plan of cost-cutting, the building of a modern arena that looks a lot like an abstract design, the acquisition of a new striker?

The New 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 subordinate staff such as coaches, talent spotters – even footballers. Maybe previously possible for a young, visionary coach with a philosophy and energy to go into a club and implement their plan through to completion. Yet how many companies have such individuals set up? What number of mass redundancies have they managed? Better by far to place the real power where it belongs: the executive class, the casually dressed executives, the guys with the jaw-dropping LinkedIn profiles. Better by far to decide the strategy in the boardroom and appoint a coach who can tailor their offering accordingly. If managers were once chefs, they have become more like Deliveroo drivers: not really creating the food, yet finally accountable should it be delivered poorly or fails of the box.

In the meantime, a coach's role has become less about crafting the philosophy and more about selling it: the front-facing representative on the front desk, the public face of an organisation they have minimal power to change. A coach at Chelsea takes a squad of very young players into the Champions League and secures domestic cups, and essentially is dismissed for speaking out. Wilfried Nancy finds his reputation ruined while the people who appointed him live to blunder another day.

A Modern Corporate Football: Responsibility Only for the Few

And possibly in a small way this is simply neoliberalism in action: the rise of a gilded elite who can never be wrong, whose choices are always sacrosanct, whose errors can invariably be sacked away without justification. Hire the 3-4-3 coach only to dismiss them for playing excessively 3-4-3. Hire the process guy and later bin him for taking excessive time. And above all be grateful; for your modest increases in ticket costs, for your new summer signings, for the reality that the adults – regardless of their expertise – are in charge.