Gandalf
Full Member
In taking a longer view there is a certain amount of deadwood and rot that needs to be cut out of the club and I am of the belief that Rangnick is managing the side with a view to his role as a consultant for the next two seasons. Whoever came in after Ole was going to need to change the culture and also figure out which players were not going to be part of the clubs future and that person was almost inevitably going to make enemies in the dressing room and be unpopular.
I like to think Ralf is essentially focused on weeding out the malcontents and and this will hopefully result in a few departures this month and several more in the summer. With a good assessment of the shape of the squad and the teams needs recruitment can then be focused on getting in the right targets in the summer and/or promoting the youth players who can contribute to the new culture. In taking this approach it sets up the new full time manager for success by clearing the decks and allowing them to play good cop to Ralf's bad cop and get buy in from the squad on day one.
I like to think Ralf is essentially focused on weeding out the malcontents and and this will hopefully result in a few departures this month and several more in the summer. With a good assessment of the shape of the squad and the teams needs recruitment can then be focused on getting in the right targets in the summer and/or promoting the youth players who can contribute to the new culture. In taking this approach it sets up the new full time manager for success by clearing the decks and allowing them to play good cop to Ralf's bad cop and get buy in from the squad on day one.