https://theathletic.com/3326843/202...d-inside-ralf-rangnick-spell-interim-manager/
Jesus, what a train wreck
Jesus, what a train wreck
Ralf Rangnick | ex-interim manager | does anyone rate him?
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Few eye opening yet also interesting pieces in there. Sounds like our preparation and in game management was an absolute shit show.
The consensus from those outside of the club is that he should be sacked. I think Ragnicks reputation is tarnished at management level, it's that bad that even a stint being a consultant seems worthless totally not up to it.
Think the club would have finished on more points having kept Ole and that is ridiculous considering Solskjaer wasn't up to it either.
Think the club would have finished on more points having kept Ole and that is ridiculous considering Solskjaer wasn't up to it either.
The job is not impossible. Bigger players have caused a lot more havoc than this internally at other clubs. What I've never seen is a manager going out of his way to be so vocal about it, yet also try to wash his hands off it at the same time. He came in, not just to coach, but to manage the first team. I personally believe the big personalities and politics within the club overwhelmed him and he simply gave up. These are the things that come with being at a big club. Our fans are simply in uproar at our players as a result of these issues being leaked. However, I'm certain these events happen at most big clubs when the team is not winning, particularly in clubs with tactically weak managers. Barca from as early as 1998 to 2003 had this problem, Madrid from 2003 to 2009 had these problems, Bayern had their FC Hollywood phase and even in 2017, they openly criticized a legendary manager like Ancelotti for his training. Chelsea have consistently had these issues throughout Abramovic's reign. The only difference at the moment is that the constant leaks due to us not have a good manager for the last three seasons, hence the majority of our players not respecting the managers and coaching staff, somewhat feeling derailed in terms of coaching and taking almost the full blame by the media have started venting more to the press. There is no doubt that our players aren't good enough, the club allowing some of them to stay this long has caused this issue. However, the club also appointing and consistently backing problematic managers has also led to this situation. Woodward did a terrible job as CEO and with such a problematic manager as Rangnick, these issues have openly been exposed to the press.
At United, issues have seemed to pop up like whack-a-mole.
In December, the club recalled Eric Bailly from Ivory Coast duty when staff discovered he was in a different location to that agreed upon. United had granted Bailly an early departure to prepare for the Africa Cup of Nations but he was told to return to Carrington. Bailly then returned late from the tournament and was injured, too. Rangnick tore into him in front of the squad.
Recently, Rangnick raised concerns in a press conference over the number of injuries sustained by members of his squad, but he was taking aim at the profile of players recruited rather than the medical department.
He had felt January could remedy some of the issues, both in sales and signings. A bloated squad of 26 players was regarded as unwieldy, with Martial and Lingard affecting the mood in particular due to their desires to leave.
But Rangnick could not get a meeting with outgoing executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward or Matt Judge, United’s head of negotiations who is also leaving the club, ahead of the transfer window opening. He was referred back to Murtough and Fletcher, who never really engaged in genuine talks over signings.
At the beginning of the new year Fletcher relayed the message that United — meaning owner Joel Glazer, Richard Arnold and Murtough — did not view January as a good period to do business. Arnold was by now in the process of taking over from Woodward as chief executive and additionally felt it imprudent to sanction tens of millions of pounds to an interim manager when top four, rather than the title, had become the objective.
A strategy meeting early in January led by head of recruitment Steve Brown spelt out United’s approach. Long-term targets were discussed without any decisions being taken, a consistent theme of recent years.
It left Rangnick perplexed at the lack of conviction.
Rangnick asked internally why United had not planned for the expected departure of Nemanja Matic by signing a defensive midfielder ahead of time. He questioned why in summer 2020 some £90 million had been spent on Amad, Facundo Pellistri and Donny van de Beek rather than a guaranteed first-team starter. He wondered why various players had been given lucrative contracts and was told the deals were reward for playing well.
Fletcher referred to “upstairs” and ultimately, it was a strategy implemented by Woodward and Judge, endorsed by Joel Glazer, to protect book value.
A strategy meeting early in January led by head of recruitment Steve Brown spelt out United’s approach. Long-term targets were discussed without any decisions being taken, a consistent theme of recent years.
It left Rangnick perplexed at the lack of conviction.
Rangnick asked internally why United had not planned for the expected departure of Nemanja Matic by signing a defensive midfielder ahead of time. He questioned why in summer 2020 some £90 million had been spent on Amad, Facundo Pellistri and Donny van de Beek rather than a guaranteed first-team starter. He wondered why various players had been given lucrative contracts and was told the deals were reward for playing well.
Fletcher referred to “upstairs” and ultimately, it was a strategy implemented by Woodward and Judge, endorsed by Joel Glazer, to protect book value.
Wow. These should leave any United fan speechless.
I feel like we would regret not appointing the best manager available in Conte when we had the chance. As supportive as I am for ten hag, Conte was much needed requirement at that time to arrest the slide of a club which is tumbling down faster than an avalanche. He was available, he was there and begging but we turned our noses just to prove he is beneath us and we are better than you. Short termism it might have been but a necessity given the gravity of the situation which few understand.
The club is hurt and bleeding profusely and something drastic was needed to be done before going into a coma. Some are of the opinion that he isn’t a united manager and doesn’t suit United for whatever reasons. As subjective and as ridiculous it is I’m not going to debate about it purely because it’s pointless but whatever the standards of a united manager are and whatever he doesn’t possess still he does possess the most important ones, the personality, the arrogance the charisma, the winning mentality and no, he’s nothing like Jose when we appointed him.
And as now it stands, he is at Spurs taking on a challenge bigger than united and prevailing already in the same duration where united fell to depths never seen before ever since the inception of the premier league . If Conte gets Tottenham anywhere close to the top of the table and heaven forbid wins something substantial then in might be a decision that can change the fortunes of the said two clubs in different ways and in different directions IF the current plan of starting from the scratch with Eric Ten Hag doesn’t work out the way it was hoped and intended. In that situation Manchester United might fall into purgatory and might cement themselves further into obscurity, a situation I dread and hope never comes into fruition.
And Sorry for the long post, I’m really excited but genuinely worried at the same time if that makes sense.
The club is hurt and bleeding profusely and something drastic was needed to be done before going into a coma. Some are of the opinion that he isn’t a united manager and doesn’t suit United for whatever reasons. As subjective and as ridiculous it is I’m not going to debate about it purely because it’s pointless but whatever the standards of a united manager are and whatever he doesn’t possess still he does possess the most important ones, the personality, the arrogance the charisma, the winning mentality and no, he’s nothing like Jose when we appointed him.
And as now it stands, he is at Spurs taking on a challenge bigger than united and prevailing already in the same duration where united fell to depths never seen before ever since the inception of the premier league . If Conte gets Tottenham anywhere close to the top of the table and heaven forbid wins something substantial then in might be a decision that can change the fortunes of the said two clubs in different ways and in different directions IF the current plan of starting from the scratch with Eric Ten Hag doesn’t work out the way it was hoped and intended. In that situation Manchester United might fall into purgatory and might cement themselves further into obscurity, a situation I dread and hope never comes into fruition.
And Sorry for the long post, I’m really excited but genuinely worried at the same time if that makes sense.
Conte won the Premier League at Chelsea right in his 1st season, then had a meltdown in the 2nd after lots of his transfers turned atrocious (Barkley, Morata...and kicking Costa out). Considering the new model we want to employ in which transfers are decided by numerous people, how long do you think it would take until Conte has a fallout with our board? This is the pattern we used to see with Jose. We can all agree that Conte's football is different from Jose's. BUT their personalities and the way they operate are not that different. We have seen the outcome of this approach before. Conte may have fit with the United under Woodward version, but I don't think he would fit with the current and future structure that Manchester United wants to apply.
Inter won the League at Inter as well after many years of Juve's domination. Yet he still had a fallout with their board, hence why he is here at the moment. That is enough proof to see how the man has a very big personality that would easily clash with our board. And Spurs's squad matches Conte's idea of a team more than our squad anyway.
This one's great, come to the conclusion that the squad is too big and bloated, let two forwards Martial and DVB go on loan, almost allow another in Lingard to go on loan and then complain (only after the season went tits up of course) that he was short of forwards after the Greenwood arrest. Now no one could plan for the Greenwood incident but players do get injured sometimes for months on end, if his plan for the season was derailed by losing one player then the plan wasn't a great one to begin with.
Seriously? Like I said RR was chiefly employed to strategise a way out of this malaise not to be the next Ferguson incarnate. The players knew he was pinning targets to their backs hence the end of season shit show.
Those excerpts give the impression that Rangnick came in hoping to be the great revolutioniser, but didn't anticipate to meet that much resistance. Ultimately he maybe picked too many battles behind the scenes, to also succeed in his short term job being the interim manager.
I think it's time to let it go now lads.
If the idea was to appoint someone for a one-off top 4 finish and Champions League qualification then it's obviously been a big fail, and who knows, Conte, Carrick, Big Sam, whoever, might have achieved that.
But if the idea was to start the first building block in a long-term process of getting you back to the top and consistently challenging for the major prizes then you're not going to be able to really judge its success for 5, 10 years.
But what it has done is give your new manager a unique opportunity. Most incoming managers, unless promoted from within, have a pre-season at most to suss out at first-hand the players and see what's required. This way, provided Ten Hag and Rangnick are singing from the same hymn sheet in terms of the way they want their football to be played, it gives your new manager a head-start in setting out his philosophy and it looks like he's already started with those players he wants to keep and those he doesn't.
You've had, what, 10 years worth of short-term fixes, time to play the long-game now, so just be patient.
In fact you ought to pause this forum and then re-start it in 5 years time where you left off.
If the idea was to appoint someone for a one-off top 4 finish and Champions League qualification then it's obviously been a big fail, and who knows, Conte, Carrick, Big Sam, whoever, might have achieved that.
But if the idea was to start the first building block in a long-term process of getting you back to the top and consistently challenging for the major prizes then you're not going to be able to really judge its success for 5, 10 years.
But what it has done is give your new manager a unique opportunity. Most incoming managers, unless promoted from within, have a pre-season at most to suss out at first-hand the players and see what's required. This way, provided Ten Hag and Rangnick are singing from the same hymn sheet in terms of the way they want their football to be played, it gives your new manager a head-start in setting out his philosophy and it looks like he's already started with those players he wants to keep and those he doesn't.
You've had, what, 10 years worth of short-term fixes, time to play the long-game now, so just be patient.
In fact you ought to pause this forum and then re-start it in 5 years time where you left off.
This club has so many issues, lets hope they fix that eventually. Damning article
Information is power and its the same inside professional football. Any consultant worth his pay (and wanting to earn more in the future) will record information on the assets he deals with.... its not rocket science!
Ralf has a consultant role with the club next season which has to relate back to the team, via the management structure, that he will be advising on, and he will have to talk to ETH at some point about future issues that effect the team in particular you would suspect when disagreements about structures, pay grades, fees, etc will be considered. Ralf may not be directly involved in such matters, but he will have a say in the setting out of such structures and objectives set out by the club, going forward, if for no other reason than to make sure they don't keep making the same mistakes.
He will all have documented lots of stuff for when he moves in to other clubs for one, and for his memoirs which will no doubt be appearing in later years.
It is incredulous to believe he does not have a record of his inputs and issues he dealt with at such a famous club.
Ralf was never a 'hands on' manager in the mould of Klopp, Tuchel, etc. he did advise them however on playing styles and how to implement and I am sure ETH will want to take advantage of Ralf's knowledge and insights, in the same vein.
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Sorry, what? When you appoint an interim manager for half a season, the idea is obviously that he's going to take care of business in the short run, because he's not going to be there for the long run. Not that it matters, because even if you judge Rangnick on improvements that might yield benefits in the longer run, it's hard to see that there are any. The football we played towards the end of the season was as bad as anything we saw before he arrived, or worse. In addition to which, he left a squad with morale completely imploded, far worse even than it already was when he took over. Nothing looks better. We weren't creating chances, the midfield was still getting overrun, we weren't pressing much and our low defensive game was arguably worse than it ever was under OGS. Squad selections and tactical setups that failed so badly they didn't survive until halftime were rife, more so than under OGS.
In short - Ralf Rangnick's tenure was a steady downward spiral, and a complete failure that set us further back from an already disastrous low point. It's bleedin' obvious that it should never have come to pass, and it must be counted a huge black mark against Murtough that it did.
I think Rangnick offered himself to whatever help the club needed, it´s just a divorce. Ten Haag wants to build his own relations.
He really wasn't though.
The other stuff seems like a stretch but yeah maybe he jotted down some notes for his future memoirs.
Perhaps but he didn't seem too keen to pick Ralf's brain at all going off the press conference. He also reportedly spoke to virtually everyone at the club bar Rangnick this week.
As expected. We had appointed a fecking amateur of a manager who hasn't a clue what it takes at the top level.
He isn't really even a manager. Just get him the feck as far away from the club as possible. Along with the people he brought in.
I think it was clear what ETH thinks of Rangnick. The press conference was very telling: “I will draw my own line.” When asked if he would be working with Ralf, again, He said “I will draw my own line.” Asked if he endorsed the consultancy with Ralf, he said, “That is on the club.”
Given the revelations of the Athletic, ESPN and and other media outlets, the enthusiasm by the Ralf cult for this “dossier” is perplexing. It’s like they think Ralf is handing over some magic beans that will magically turn us into title challengers. So we have an incompetent manager submitting a mythical dossier that Ten Hag is going to stake his future and reputation on? It’s absolutely delusional.
Asked about the squad rebuild, Ten Hag clearly says “The season before, this club was 2nd in the league, so there is huge potential.” He seemed a bit disgusted at all of the Ralf centered questions IMHO.
Cox has bitched on Rangnick since before Rangnick signed for us. It’s beyond bordering on weird.
Quite enjoyed his comparison to Big Sam at Bolton.
Even when Rangnick was first mentioned and the hype started to build, I remember wondering why supposedly this top class manager was working in obscurity as a director of football at a mid table Russian club. Even when results were shit he was somehow praised for his work.
he tried to do that here as well.Oh right I wasn't aware, any idea what his problem with Rangnick has been?
The uncertainty though is this, as a manager he was awful and failed to get us to mount a challenge for the top 4 against two teams that notoriously bottle it. As you say, this can be forgiven (maybe) if he helps EtH to hit the ground running with regard to building a new team.
However, what if EtH isn't particularly interested, or decides not to act upon RR's squad assessment? Then it firmly becomes a disaster of an appointment given all the downsides of missing out on the Champions League, not least how it impacts player recruitment - so setting us back on the rebuild.
Lets hope EtH trusts RR to some degree, but primarily let's hope RR is actually worth trusting.
I think letting VDB go in January was a suicidal decision. Our midfield option was already thin yet he thought letting VDB go without arrival of new midfielder was a good idea.
And we didn't make it into top four...that's a bit like relegation for a club like United, don't you think?
Yeah thanks to the godfather of gegenpressing we ended up with 13 points off instead. Brilliant work there chief!
Nope. If that was only 7 points deficit we'd finish in top 4 after unbeaten in 11 games.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.go...start-to-the-season/166lxpidmqy11r65xx1v9364c
I'm pretty sure Rangnick had sex with Michael Cox's wife.
Paolo Maldini on Ragnick:
https://www.fotmob.com/news/gsxx6oi...gnick-to-learn-respect-in-extraordinary-blast
https://www.fotmob.com/news/gsxx6oi...gnick-to-learn-respect-in-extraordinary-blast
Or cox has a quid pro quo with some of our players.
You bet he has, his memoirs and his inside story (when he's free to use it) will be mind blowing!
Of course not, not in public, ETH wants establish that he is his own man, especially this early....... but if he doesn't talk to Ralf (behind the bike shed or wherever) then the fans had better start praying and looking out for a new manager. ETH may ultimately dismiss everything Ralf says, about players, methods, etc., but common sense dictates he has to listen first!
Well we may never know if he speaks to him or not. But I don't think we would need a new manager just because he may not be interested in what Ralf Rangnick has to say.
What about Maldini?
From his time here its easy to see he has no respect for people and is a self serving control freak.
The answer to the question of why he was in a middle of the road club in Russia is because that's the only club willing to give him the level of power he wanted. From day one when he joined us, he always spoke out of turn and had so much to say about other people's jobs. People on here and fans online like it because they view things through a Ralf vs the players/board lense but objectively speaking he's an unpleasant man.
Its common sense for a new manager to speak to old one at some point, as I said he may reject everything Ralf has to say, that's up to him, but not to even to speak to the previous manager would suggest ETH is not dealing with a full deck and if so this 'deficit' in terms of common sense will surface at some point!
Don't think Ralf could do all the pressing himself, I am sure he explained the theory.
Probably showed the players video clips of Liverpool and City and maybe even Chelsea, that's how to do it lads!
or
Perhaps he spoke to them in German, and something got lost in the translation?
or
perhaps our players were just not interested and didn't give a sh**.
I know which of the above I believe to be true!
Cant wait to see the back of him. Just seeing his face popup on this thread makes me angry. Absolute waste of space and an embarrassment to the club
Out of interest how often do you think that actually happens though?
Because Solskjaer despite having been sacked taking the time to speak to Rangnick is about the only time I've ever heard of it happening. I imagine it's a very rare occurrence indeed as most managers (probably 95%) leave a club because they are sacked.
Do you imagine Moyes spoke to LVG, Louis to Jose, or Jose to Ole?
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