It’s another U-turn with Rangnick at the wheel
There is an episode of Seinfeld in which George decides all the decisions made throughout his life have been mistakes.
‘every instinct I have in every aspect, be it something to wear, something to eat, it’s all been wrong,’ he says. he vows to do the opposite from that moment.
It would appear the same logic has taken hold at Manchester United. The dark mind of Jose Mourinho was replaced by little ray of sunshine Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. That didn’t work, so now Solskjaer gives way to ralf rangnick.
Manchester United are going from being the least coached elite side in the world, to the most. If Ole’s at the wheel, rangnick’s style is to be at the wheel, in the passenger seat and shouting instructions from the back, too.
The money must be good because, asked to perform a similar role at Chelsea after Frank Lampard’s dismissal, rangnick said roughly four months was not enough time to have an influence. Maybe he was surprised at what Thomas Tuchel contrived to do in a similar period — or maybe six months makes him think he can bend United into a recognisable shape.
If order and structure are what have been missing this season they are arriving with bells on now. rangnick is a famously influential leader, credited with inspiring the current generation of German coaches without ever getting an opportunity at a truly big club. reputationally, he’s Marcelo Bielsa with an umlaut.
It seems strange, then, that Manchester United only see him as a manager for six months and then a consultant for two years after. If he succeeds, why would he want to shrink into the shadows? If he fails, why would anyone take his advice?
rangnick seems exactly the sort of figure United need right now, were they not obsessed with the optics of the big name.
he has one domestic cup on his honours board which puts him on a par with Mauricio Pochettino. The German, however, has never been blessed with the stars that orbit Paris Saint-Germain, or even Spurs.
rangnick’s talent has always been for creating great players, rather than recruiting them.
Given this, it will be interesting to see how he goes about fitting Cristiano ronaldo into what is a pretty clearly defined method of play: high energy and high pressing.
At a recent coaches’ conference in London, rangnick spoke of the best managers knowing precisely what football they want to play. he was insistent that all have a distinct vision of what their team looks like.
‘They have a video of the perfect game in their heads,’ he said. And if we think about Jurgen Klopp, Pep Guardiola or Tuchel, he’s right. Their teams would be recognisable even without colours. So would rangnick’s.
Few had a clue what United were trying to achieve under Solskjaer, sadly. They were a halfway house. Pressing one minute, dropping the next. rangnick will afford clarity — and if he’s as smart as he sounds, he should be able to adapt his strategies to the presence of ronaldo, too.
We’ll know more next week. rangnick cannot get a work permit for United’s match at Chelsea, so the interim is denied a debut against disciple Tuchel. It remains to be seen whether United’s latest 180 degree turn will work as swiftly as the last.
In the episode The Opposite, George determines to approach a very pretty girl in the diner.
‘My name is George,’ he says. ‘I’m unemployed and I live with my parents.’
‘I’m Victoria, hi,’ says the blonde, sexily. Manchester United will be hoping for a similarly promising return.
ThIS Government thinks it knows what is best for football. here’s what is best for football. For all sport, in fact. Competition.
A healthy, open competition is what makes football in this country so vital. We do not know who will win the league every season. We do not know who will make the top four or who will go down.
More than half the professional clubs in this country have experienced the Premier League since its formation. Now one of its founding members, Oldham Athletic, are in serious danger of dropping into the fifth tier.
And that is a terrible shame but it is also competition. Bournemouth, Wimbledon and Wigan went the other way for a time. The movement of clubs up and down a pyramid system is the vibrant core of the English game.
Some will tell you it is all about community and, yes, that is important, too. Yet Leeds has a population of 1.89million and the average gate at Elland Road is 36,405.
So, undeniably, any true focus on community for the majority would improve hospitals, schools, transport infrastructure and local facilities such as parks and libraries. Football cannot cure cancer. It cannot take your kids out of a minimum wage job, or provide the rail link to cities where better opportunities exist.
Yet it does have sexy footballers and charismatic managers and politicians love stuff like that. You have only got to look at the lists of gifts and hospitality for members of parliament.
And it is an MP, Tracey Crouch, who has chaired the Government’s fan-led review, which will now foist an independent regulator on the sport. Crouch was in favour of the idea before the review began, so has unsurprisingly come to precisely the conclusion she desired. And nobody would argue football has shown itself in the best light of late.
Yet Crouch somehow ties the proposed breakaway Super League with the ruination of Bury and the sale of Newcastle United to the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia, so it is a report that is not afraid to take the intellectual leap. Much like Shaun the Sheep, in fact.
Want to take those topics in turn? Let’s start with Newcastle. Asked if the independent regulator would have blocked the sale to the Saudis, Crouch intimated it might. She talked about a new integrity test, taking character into account.
‘I think the test would have stressed the takeover more than the current test does,’ she concluded. This is utterly fanciful. It is well known that the Premier League were placed under significant Government pressure to appease the Saudis, who are valued trading partners.
Yet such was the League’s reluctance to approve the sale it was held up for close on 18 months. Only when every last issue regarding ownership and broadcast piracy had been settled was it decided the League could resist no more.
Now, given that entreaties to step in and help conclude the deal went all the way up to Boris Johnson, would a Governmentappointed regulator truly have addressed the integrity and character of those involved in the takeover? That sounds unlikely considering the back-channelling taking place.
And what is character anyway? It is such a vague, loose