A number of recent books offer clues. Ancelotti’s autobiography, The Beautiful Games of an Ordinary Genius, and Patrick Barclay’s Football – Bloody Hell!: The Biography of Alex Ferguson focus on these two charismatic coaches respectively. In The Manager: The Absurd Ascent of the Most Important Man in Football, Barney Ronay, a sports columnist for The Guardian, examines not individuals but the rise of the football manager – from his humble beginnings as an essentially secretarial role – to now, when the very best are seen as something akin to an oracle in a quilted overcoat. As Musa Okwonga argues in Will You Manage? The Necessary Skills to Be a Great Gaffer, excelling as a manager today requires a bewildering set of skills.