Football management is difficult – unless, of course, you’re a football writer. But otherwise – if you’re a football manager, say – it’s one of the hardest jobs there is, which is why almost everyone who tries it fails somewhere along the line.
That’s the case even if they end up at Manchester United, whose standing in the game since the second world war is down to the achievements of just two men: Matt Busby and Alex Ferguson. And what defines them, along with all the others who’ve enjoyed even moderate success in the role – Tommy Docherty, Ron Atkinson, Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho, as opposed to Frank O’Farrell, Dave Sexton, David Moyes and Ole Gunnar Solskjær – is charisma.
