Ancelotti and Ferguson are among the world’s leading and most respected football managers – each has twice won its pre-eminent club competition, the UEFA Champions League. If the gap between their respective definitions of power is confusing, that’s partly because football as a business is pretty hard to grasp, often bearing little relation to most other businesses or indeed most people’s day-to-day lives. Contracts appear to count for nothing, most clubs make a loss and a player such as Rooney decides to go for a whacking pay rise – reportedly up to £160,000 a week – at a time when the British government is announcing huge public spending cuts. What, then, does it take to be a manager in this industry, when scrutiny from media and fans is more intense than ever? And, when factors such as the size of a club’s wage bill have been shown to determine success, do we even need managers any more?