Ralf Rangnick | ex-interim manager | does anyone rate him?

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The manager never had a chance to succeed.

Come the listless defeat at Goodison Park in early April, a source close to one player said several players had 'mentally checked out'. Everton players were distinctly unimpressed by United in the reverse fixture six months earlier and rued drawing 1-1.
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Rangnick started to cut loose in his press conferences and that was described as the 'filtered version' by a source. The majority of the United players were never having Rangnick's methods and his diagnosis the squad required 'open-heart surgery' went down badly with them. That is now an emergency operation, although you might need to check if some at United have a heart.
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One player complained Rangnick 'talked to him like a child' and 'did not give a s---e' about Rangnick's advice. Another player was dubbed a 'teacher's pet'. One senior player spoke disparagingly of any competitor for his position. Some players found Anthony Elanga's playing time mind-boggling.
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A reporter new on the Manchester beat wrote United suspected where the 'unsavoury leaks' had emerged from. Like in Murder on the Orient Express, more than one passenger stuck the knife in.
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Towards the end of Solskjaer's tenure, United players were at the end of their tether with Solskjaer. He held a team meeting and asked the players if they still trusted him. A player noticed almost everyone was avoiding eye contact and 'looking at their shoes'.
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https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...ll-news/man-united-news-inside-story-23661212
 
The article simply makes Rangnick look more incompetent to me. His constant complaining and whining to the press seem more problematic given his own misgivings. A lot of the issues he discusses probably happen at a lot of different dressing rooms, for example, the approach of play and training. These our the sort of issues managers who deal with big clubs with star players have to deal with, yet its made to look like an impossible task. That's more of an indictment on him than the squad. I personally feel the job was too big for him and due to his age, his options and his previous DOF position he simply decided not to put in that much effort into this season. I don't think he tried nearly as hard as he is making out, both with the dressing room and on the pitch. The players bear a lot of culpability, which is why so many will leave. However, the buck really stops with Rangnick. We weren't just bad under him, we were horrific. The irony is our play has regressed and looks like all we ask our players to do is win the ball back and stay compact, which ironically is mentioned as a reason for discontent among the players. I actually think his tactics are very one dimensional and only worked because he was at smaller teams in the German league. We've seen this story before with Felix Magath at Fulham. I don't think he had more to offer outside of pressing, and once that didn't work out, his true lack of a game plan was exposed.
 
VidaRed said:
The manager never had a chance to succeed.











https://www.manchestereveningnews.c...ll-news/man-united-news-inside-story-23661212
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ETH in for a massive challenge. " 'talked to him like a child'.....fecker you all deserve to be treated like children, you can't even kick a ball around a pitch for 90 mins and you're paid 70k+ per week to fail.

And lets actually decode what 'talked to him like a child' really means.....it means you've treated this season like a fecking holiday session, someone has come that wants to shake you out of your delusions and that has made you feel like you're a child, you're being held to account and because you have barely tried and now someone had tried to hold you to account you feel so embarassed that you lash out against everyone.

fecking morons. God I hate this squad.
 
A player bluntly described Rangnick's decisions as 'bad' and his substitutions often had the opposite effect, most infamously at Manchester City when United were trailing 2-1 and worsened once Lingard and Marcus Rashford were introduced. It ended 4-1.

Some close to the players were startled by their performances. The word was Lingard and Rashford received 'no instructions, no game plan, no position plan'. "They didn't have a f-----g clue what they were doing," a source said. Carrington sources felt Armas was out of his depth.
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Can people finally stop saying the players don't listen to his instructions.
 
WPMUFC said:
there is a post literally 3 posts up that says that was exactly the case.
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Methods:

Training sessions revolved mainly around players getting the ball back as quickly as possible and playing it forwards at first opportunity. The predominant message out of possession was to get in shape, tight and narrow. Players wanted more than instructions for “verticality”, though.
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AFC NimbleThumb said:
Of course influence isn’t simply 90 minutes on the pitch of a Saturday but at some point the players playing week-in week-out need to be held accountable for their performances instead of some perceived influence. I prefer to judge players for their on field performances rather than speculate, who’s to say Maguire isn’t a negative influence in the dressing room? When did another member of the squad compliment his captaincy/leadership? I just think it’s a sloppy slope when we start labelling players based on very little fact.
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I get what you're saying mate and yeah these players have to take responsibility for their performances. But at the heart of this clusterfeck of a season has been the terrible atmosphere and poor morale around the club. Every player playing or not playing (probably more so) has contributed to that. We started the season with way too many players disgruntled about lack of match time ( Henderson, Dalot, Bailly, DVB, Martial and possibly Cavani).

Maguire may be a bad egg I genuinely don't know, it wouldn't surprise me as he's not the greatest captain in football.
 
Dan_F said:
It’s hard to say exactly, but I could take a few guesses. A lot of coaches will have agreements to say if they are offered a managerial role then the club will let them go. Rangnick may have underestimated his importance, or overestimated his own coaches and agreed to let him go. Finally, it doesn’t look great for prospective coaches if we block them from moving to a manager role.
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Contracts work both ways and needs must, if Ralf felt he needed Carrick & McKenna then he and the club should have been told them they're going no where until after the season is over. I think this was a mistake by Rangnick that's now being spun as something that was forced upon him.

Dan_F said:
The one which everyone is talking about, which I’d assumed your post was referring to.
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Most are discussing the Athletic article. My post was in reply to a Rob Draper Tweet from the Daily Mail.
 
Does anyone have an update on what happened with Locomotiv after his consulting gig? Last I checked, the fans were whining about having signings forced on them by Ralf and co. I looked at the table just now and they finished 6th after having finished 2nd last year (deja vu?)
 
B. Munich said:
Don't think Rangnick ever got a real chance to turn things around.
In order to implement his style of football he needs the right players to press, he needs time, at least a preseason to drill the basics movements, and he needs a team willing to buy into his ideas.

None of the these prerequisites were given.

United didn't have the players to play Rangnick's preferred heavy metal football.
Many players weren't even in the shape to play high energy football and with the drive season ahead plus Corona causing havock there was absolutely no time to improve the fitness and lay the physical groundwork for an intensive pressing game.

Probably Rangnick tried nevertheless as he doesn't have a plan B. The players felt the strain and didn't buy into his approach. Knowing he will be gone end season didn't help of course.

Looking at the situation from the outside and in hindsight, Rangnick's appointment as a quick fix was a complete disaster. Wrong guy at the wrong place at the wrong time. No signings during the winter transfer window were the final nail in the coffin.

Rangnick isn't blameless, actually with his experience in squad building he should have known this won't work out and never have accepted the job in the first place.

If the board had ETH appointed in November under the same circumstances, I doubt he would have been able to achieve much better results.
Implementing a totally different style of play in mid of a demanding EPL season without any changes to the squad, is just not possible.
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Exactly. If this happened under the old regime by Woodward, we wouldn't be surprised as we know how shit Woodward was. But this happened under the new football structure, it's very concerning.

They appointed an interim manager in Nov with no plan whatsoever to make it work. Chelsea had many interim managers before and the club structure supported the managers to ensure that at least it works to meet the minimum requirement for the season.

No other major club consistently make these basic errors like we did for the last 10 years.

Hope the new football structure learn fast and put in a solid plan to support ETH. No point appointing ETH and not providing him the necessary support for him to succeed here.

Liverpool and City structure are completely aligned with Klopp and Pep style of play.
 
L1nk said:
If you don’t see that the same players who stay will cause the exact same issues for ETH I don’t know what to say to you
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They shouldnt stay thats a thing and who stays in first team is in hands of ETH, its his call, his decision, he fecks that up from a get go, he is toasted. Imagine if comes out and says like LvG did "shit is behind us, everyone will have a chance to prove themself".
 
tjb said:
We weren't just bad under him, we were horrific.
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Isn't that the whole point...? Why he was brought in as a short term manager... to identify and draw the poison and that is exactly what he's done.

ETH can now start to operate on a clean slate!

Interim managers usually have two approaches; one like Ole did originally; smooth ruffled feathers, calm nerves put smiles back on faces, spread the love etc. if Ole had not taken the full time job and just done the interim stint, we might be in a much better position.

The second (alternative) approach for an interim manager is to try to stem the tide, bring in definite change (i.e. more than just rearranging the deck chairs) and if it doesn't work then he has to, pull the plug and tease out the poison... Ralf took the second route and hopefully we will be a whole lot better for it next season.
 
Maticmaker said:
Isn't that the whole point...? Why he was brought in as a short term manager... to identify and draw the poison and that is exactly what he's done.

ETH can now start to operate on a clean slate!

Interim managers usually have two approaches; one like Ole did originally; smooth ruffled feathers, calm nerves put smiles back on faces, spread the love etc. if Ole had not taken the full time job and just done the interim stint, we might be in a much better position.

The second (alternative) approach for an interim manager is to try to stem the tide, bring in definite change (i.e. more than just rearranging the deck chairs) and if it doesn't work then he has to, pull the plug and tease out the poison... Ralf took the second route and hopefully we will be a whole lot better for it next season.
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Is this a common approach for hiring Interim managers? Which other top clubs have employed this method?
 
R'hllor said:
They shouldnt stay thats a thing and who stays in first team is in hands of ETH, its his call, his decision, he fecks that up from a get go, he is toasted. Imagine if comes out and says like LvG did "shit is behind us, everyone will have a chance to prove themself".
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Well he'll have to as he can't sign an entire new squad in one window. So he has to work with the players he's got.
 
stevoc said:
Well he'll have to as he can't sign an entire new squad in one window. So he has to work with the players he's got.
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Everything can be done but either way, if he doesnt remove rot this summer, he wont stand a chance.
 
Adnan said:
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This seems in line considering how ETH answered the question about Ralf.

Looks like Ralf‘s role will involve internal restructuring around scouting and recruitment, and how the football board will be composed. First team affairs will be minimal.

Maybe his goal is to basically assist setting up the club so its autonomous and everything can run smoothly regardless of who’s the first team head coach… you know, like the rest of our peers do, instead of trying to fit managers into that Sir Alex shaped hole.
 
Chairman Steve said:
This seems in line considering how ETH answered the question about Ralf.

Looks like Ralf‘s role will involve internal restructuring around scouting and recruitment, and how the football board will be composed. First team affairs will be minimal.

Maybe his goal is to basically assist setting up the club so its autonomous and everything can run smoothly regardless of who’s the first team head coach… you know, like the rest of our peers do, instead of trying to fit managers into that Sir Alex shaped hole.
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Ralf's role is to do with John Murtough and not the head coach.
 
stevoc said:
Is this a common approach for hiring Interim managers? Which other top clubs have employed this method?
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Its not top clubs usually, it is usually those facing relegation.

Its not the common approach, except where things get bad and performances fall off. In our case you could argue it was part of a greater 'clean out,' of playing and non playing matters. Perhaps the best Ralf could have hoped for was to make the CL qualification places?

Its really the approach adopted I was referring to... interim managers come in and either ' double down on everything positive' and try to build on that, (ignoring fault lines) which its arguable what Ole did last season, or they try to bring in new ideas and if that fails they try to identify why and shine a light on what is wrong. Either way an interim manager is just that, interim; unfortunately in football because a manager seems to succeed in the interim, he is touted for the job permanently, if he is deemed to have failed, he just carries the can!
 
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Has the fecker left the building yet?

Good riddance to bad rubbish. Watch him destroy Austria now and make them worse.
 
Maticmaker said:
Its not top clubs usually, it is usually those facing relegation.

Its not the common approach, except where things get bad and performances fall off. In our case you could argue it was part of a greater 'clean out,' of playing and non playing matters. Perhaps the best Ralf could have hoped for was to make the CL qualification places?

Its really the approach adopted I was referring to... interim managers come in and either ' double down on everything positive' and try to build on that, (ignoring fault lines) which its arguable what Ole did last season, or they try to bring in new ideas and if that fails they try to identify why and shine a light on what is wrong. Either way an interim manager is just that, interim; unfortunately in football because a manager seems to succeed in the interim, he is touted for the job permanently, if he is deemed to have failed, he just carries the can!
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The former sounds like the remit of every interim manager. The latter sounds almost like trying to sugar coat the tenure of an interim manager who's failed at the former to be fair.
 
Adnan said:
Ralf's role is to do with John Murtough and not the head coach.
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Yup, probably advising how he should run the football club in general. Nothing directly to the head coach and let's be honest no decent manager will take that shit kindly.
 
Maticmaker said:
Isn't that the whole point...? Why he was brought in as a short term manager... to identify and draw the poison and that is exactly what he's done.

ETH can now start to operate on a clean slate!

Interim managers usually have two approaches; one like Ole did originally; smooth ruffled feathers, calm nerves put smiles back on faces, spread the love etc. if Ole had not taken the full time job and just done the interim stint, we might be in a much better position.

The second (alternative) approach for an interim manager is to try to stem the tide, bring in definite change (i.e. more than just rearranging the deck chairs) and if it doesn't work then he has to, pull the plug and tease out the poison... Ralf took the second route and hopefully we will be a whole lot better for it next season.
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That is not why we hired him.

We hired him because he's an experienced manager who was thought could implement structured tactics which Ole didn't.
We expected his experienced head would enable him to steady the ship and continue our trajectory to top 4.
We sacked Ole because we believed he would never be the manager to get us to the place we thought the squad could go.
Our defence, mostly the protection of our defence, was our main problem with Ole. With Rangnick every position looked bad aside from DDG.
 
stevoc said:
The former sounds like the remit of every interim manager. The latter sounds almost like trying to sugar coat the tenure of an interim manager who's failed at the former to be fair.
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I'm pretty sure the latter only exists in movies...
 
Ralf said the United squad was strong enough to compete when the players went out on loan and after the January transfer window was closed. And United was still on champion league.

Not sure if that statement was before Mason Greenwood case 29.Jan.22

But letting Martial, DVBeek, Diallo went out on loan + Greenwood. Then he said United squad were strong enough to compete. He didnt said strong and good enough to get top 4. But strong enough to get a good result.
So he has to take the blame for analizing the United squad and accept players goes out on loan.
On the max level and potential. United lost 2 of the attacking 4 from 2 nd place season. 2 of United most creative players from that season. And you give a statement that United squad were strong and good enough.
I think and believe its the head coach who had the last decision to let players goes out on loan.

So not only against Brighton and Crystal Palace. No Rashford, Martial and Greenwood. United are so so short upfront and in the attack. The coach team shall take the blame for it. And those decision and reasons/factors lead to weak collective performances. And as domino effect. The collective performance lead to weak individual performances.

And in the last 2 matches. Without Rashford on the benches. Then you dont have Rashford to blame for United poor and weak collective performances.
From mine observing. Greenwood case, 2-3 creative players went out on loan. It lead to lesser attacking options to choose from. Lead further weak starting line up/XI. Poor pick XI line up by the manager. Ralf pick the exact team as Ole, but just trying to play his way. That Gessen press style he was calling. Then poor result lead to lower confidence of the team. And the low confidence ball keep rolling. And in end up with collective collapsed.

So that are mine observing of United as a club.
 
mu4c_20le said:
I'm pretty sure the latter only exists in movies...
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I don't know where it actually exists if it indeed does but it would be an unusual strategy to base hiring a manager around to be honest. I imagine it would have been a very strange recruitment process and interview.
 
stevoc said:
I don't know where it actually exists if it indeed does but it would be an unusual strategy to base hiring a manager around to be honest. I imagine it would have been a very strange recruitment process and interview.
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You are trying to confuse the whole issue here as usual. No top manager wanted to come on an interim basis for 6 months. It was what happened before when Jose was sacked. Ole was appointed interim and then Woodward decided to make him permanent. This time Arnold didn't want to appoint a permanent one middle of the season and Ralf was the only one available.
Yes we probably could have got Fat Sam.
 
mu4c_20le said:
Can people finally stop saying the players don't listen to his instructions.
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The article looks bad for Rangnick imo. It looks like he didn't do his job at all. He wasn't able to manage the dressing room, he didn't take training sessions seriously, had a very slow process of analysis which can't work with such a fast schedule, didn't try to bridge dysfunction in the dressing room, was far more focused on complaining about matters he couldn't sort out than doing his actual job, could not implement tactics or training methods effectivly ( even his in game analysis was lacking) and always blaming everyone else. Yes it's a difficut job, but it's one of the biggest clubs in the world. Madrid, Barca and Bayern managers have also had to deal with these conditions in the past
 
I am and have been a supporter of Ralf. He failed as a manager but personally I feel that him exposing a lot of the flaws in the club and the characters at the club makes up for his failure on the pitch. Well, almost.
 
Foxbatt said:
You are trying to confuse the whole issue here as usual.
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Oh, as usual?

Foxbatt said:
No top manager wanted to come on an interim basis for 6 months. It was what happened before when Jose was sacked. Ole was appointed interim and then Woodward decided to make him permanent. This time Arnold didn't want to appoint a permanent one middle of the season and Ralf was the only one available.
Yes we probably could have got Fat Sam.
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Not sure what any of this has to do with my post but thanks for sharing mate.
 
Foxbatt said:
You are trying to confuse the whole issue here as usual. No top manager wanted to come on an interim basis for 6 months. It was what happened before when Jose was sacked. Ole was appointed interim and then Woodward decided to make him permanent. This time Arnold didn't want to appoint a permanent one middle of the season and Ralf was the only one available.
Yes we probably could have got Fat Sam.
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Enough information has come out to show that Ralf was, well, a fraud.

Was the dressing room poisonous? Yes. Was the club dysfunctional? Yes.

But that doesn’t change the fact that Ralf was a terrible manager. All of this have been reported in several articles. The back 3 vs Liverpool, the reliance on a coach 2000 miles away to make in game adjustments? General tactical instructions that the team was confused about? The manager of Manchester United doesn’t have enough faith in his own tactical analysis to make his own in-game adjustments? He was supposed to be this great tactical innovator, but to find out he was sufficiently confused that he had to rely on a non-United coach to prepare tactics against our opponents? Late, mind you.

‘The more we learn about his tenure here, the worse it looks. Ralf was never good enough. If he had brilliant coaches under him, he still wouldn’t have been good enough.

I sincerely hope this cult of Ralf can die. There’s no point in making excuses for him. His results were awful, the performances were awful, he failed to lift the squad’s mentality, he failed to manage the dressing room, he clearly alienated the players.
 
Berbaclass said:
Rangnick came into the place with everything covered in shit and petrol. He might have lit a match or two but I don’t think he has that much responsibility over how awful the state of affairs is. His tactics sure but apart from that it was always an uphill battle to say the least.
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His tactics, his man management, his in game management, his training sessions, his indecisiveness, his game preparation… I mean, that’s pretty much every aspect of team management mate.

No one is saying the club isn’t a mess, the players aren’t responsible. We’re just saying Ralf is, objectively, the worst manager we’ve had in 50 years. There can be more than one factor behind this shitshow of a season. Personally, I think that we need to recognize that Ralf has quite a bit of responsibility for the way things played out.
 
stevoc said:
The former sounds like the remit of every interim manager.
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It is, for those facing relegation, an interim manager who is trying to save a team going down has to work with whatever he has, 'make the best of a bad job'. For other interim posts there maybe other issues. Ralf in my opinion was brought in to a) try to get a CL spot, b) change the methods of play, if he could do neither, then c) expose the rubbish, so it can be cleared out for the next man... and c) that's what he did!
 
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