Ralf Rangnick will not be missed by many at Man United, and his departure could lead to a return of the club's compliant culture, but Erik ten Hag has made a strong start.
Last week, Ten Hag started his new work.
On Monday, Ralf Rangnick's fate was written in the stars. At Erik ten Hag's introduction press conference, he was named in the fourth, fourteenth, and fifteenth questions, and it was Ten Hag's response to the last that was telling.
Is he endorsing Rangnick's job as a consultant?
"That's on the club," says the narrator.
We half-joked in the press room thereafter that Rangnick wouldn't be at United next year. Make a week of it.
Ten Hag and Rangnick never met in person, instead relying on WhatsApp messages and a lengthy phone call last week to keep in touch.
Rangnick's appointment as the next Austria national team coach "would make it difficult to devote the time working for United that was previously envisaged," United concluded in less than a week.
Rangnick has been sent to Austria for the past month. United, understandably, waited until Ten Hag arrived in town to terminate Rangnick's consulting contract before it had even begun.
Rangnick's departure will be welcomed by many at United. According to a source, no one at the club enjoyed his candid remarks, but the supporters did.
Rangnick's tactics were not popular with the players. With the news that the United squad needed open-heart surgery, one player joked that he had started "dropping bombs."
Rangnick's CV was mocked by the players, and the backbiting was so demeaning that he was dubbed 'Specs.' Marcus Rashford was enraged by Rangnick's remarks, despite the fact that Rashford and his entourage had a feud with Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and Jose Mourinho.
Rangnick only made nine Premier League starts for Rashford, and if Ten Hag had used him as a sounding board, Rashford's days at United could have been numbered. Instead, he might get a respite.
Rangnick's appointment was pushed through by United football director John Murtough, and it resulted in the worst stretch in the club's recent history. Rangnick had managed 81 games in the decade before to his November 29 appointment, with Schalke being the biggest team he has coached. His coaching career peaked in 2011, when Schalke were knocked out of the Champions League semi-finals by Darron Gibson and Anderson.
Rangnick's appointment was pushed through by Murtough.
Rangnick's appointment was pushed through by Murtough.
Rangnick's complaints over United's failure to sign a forward on January's deadline day alarmed the staff. Luis Diaz and Dejan Kulusevski, two of the best winter signings, have made significant contributions at Liverpool and Tottenham, with the former seeking four titles and the latter returning to the Premier League.
The United press officer requested this writer in the press room prior to kick-off the following day at Brighton to ask Rangnick a question, encouraging him to clarify his previous day's statements. The wings of the Red Bull man had been clipped.
Rangnick's appointment as a journalist was an intriguing one. The players didn't press much, and Rangnick's six-month stint was highlighted by his anti-press briefings.
It was especially reassuring that Real Madrid won the Champions League with a manager who simply told Rodrygo to "go and score a goal" against Manchester City in the semi-final second leg, at a time when there is so much pretentious intellectualising in football with the superfluous 'expected goals,' the misleading 'goal contributions,' and so on.
Carlo Ancelotti will be missing from the list of coaching innovators. With four European Cups and winners' medals from Europe's five major leagues, he is "The Record Man," as he affectionately put it on the Stade de France pitch.
Sir Alex Ferguson owes his kindred spirit a crate of Italian red for seeing off City and Liverpool in the knockout rounds previous to the final, and Uefa should erect a monument to Ancelotti, the scourge of the so-called sportswashing trinity in the knockout stages prior to the final.
Ancelotti is the true manager of the year at United.
Unlike some of his peers, Ancelotti does not hunger for a standing ovation for his brilliance. His brilliance, like Ferguson's, is in man-management. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer is proof that this is not the case.
Rangnick had a human touch with Victor Lindelof, whom he consoled on the plane ride back to Manchester as the defender processed the horror of his wife and two sons being trapped in a panic room by robbers. After missing a penalty against Middlesbrough, Anthony Elanga was consoled.
In the end, the United dressing room was not ready for an interim appointment, which is always a risky move. Rangnick will not be missed or remembered, but he had the courage to look at things objectively, and now that he is no longer on the payroll, United risk catering to under-performing players and reverting to a compliant mentality.
At the very least, Ten Hag is a disciplinary figure, and Rangnick's role was not limited to the club.
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