Former interim manager Ralf Rangnick was set to take up a consultancy role at the club this summer, but the German has become manager of Austria instead.
Following a disappointing 2021/22 campaign, Rangnick, who managed 11 wins out of 25 matches, left Old Trafford this summer with a lot more questions than answers.
He was unable to lift the mood in the dressing room and results worsened. For all the criticism Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got before his dismissal, over time people learned that United had much bigger problems than a simple managerial change.
Moreover, it turns out that Rangnick’s days were numbered when the club made a final decision on appointing Erik ten Hag as manager.
According to ESPN, Ten Hag was so reluctant to work with Rangnick that United ended up parting ways with him.
The German was expecting to meet with Ten Hag in person to exchange thoughts on the team and moving forward, but after only receiving a phone call, he was left unhappy at trhe lack of proper hand-over.
SN’s verdict
There is no point keeping someone at the club if the manager doesn’t want to work with him.
In theory, it was a great idea to appoint Rangnick as I believe he could have helped reshape the club off the pitch, but when it comes down to it Ten Hag is not going to listen to advice from an employee, he’s reluctant to work alongside.
Steve McClaren and Mitcell van der Gaag have arrived as Ten Hag’s trusted assistants and most would argue two people is more than enough.
What more could Rangnick offer on a football level?
dale – i don’t understand why you ole supporting pages, paddock etc just can’t admit that you were wrong about ole and admit he was a disaster. he set united back years.
more than any coach at united he was backed and given time even though it was evident he was clueless. it was not the glazers fault that united spent 130 million on AWB and maguire for instance. ole built a good portion of that team and it was rubbish and still is but even worse are the characters in the team.
as for Ralf he was always on his way out, he was too outspoken about the incompetencies of the united board (most have been there for approaching a decade so he meant every single one of them, importantly also murtough) and he clearly and correctly saw that the players have egos far bigger than their accomplishments.
united need a rangnick character and i doubt murtough can do the job if the first month is anything to go by.
Dixon, when i was seven or eight, we visited some relatives for a weekend. The adults were playing cards in my aunt’s house and sent me to my cousin’s next door to fetch something. Unfortunately, they failed to mention that my cousin was having an inground pool built and, in the pitch black, I fell into the hole. There was no ladder to climb out and no one could hear my shouts.
The point of this story is that, until my dad eventually came looking for me, I was just like Rangnick. I knew exactly what the problem was but couldn’t do anything to solve it.