News of Ralf Rangnick abandoning his consultancy role with Manchester United brings down the curtain on one of the least successful periods in the club’s recent past.
Rangnick, who had a stellar reputation at the time, was enticed to leave his position with Lokomotiv Moscow to take over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after the Norwegian was sacked in late November. There was an understanding that his spell as interim manager would be two years, where he would act as a consultant at the club.
However, what followed was worse than anybody could have imagined. United finished with a record low Premier League points total of just 58 and a net zero goal difference. They failed to qualify for the Champions League. To make matters worse, their style of football was deemed to be dire by many of their fans, with some of the players seeming to have switched off completely by the end of the season.
In retrospect, naming Rangnick as interim boss was a huge mistake. It made him responsible for results without the necessary authority to achieve them. Any player who did not buy into his methods could simply switch off, knowing that he would not be the one making the decisions in a few months’ time.
His presence in the boardroom would also have weighed over incoming manager Erik ten Hag, with his implied ability to overrule the Dutchman when it came to key decisions.
Rangnick has a new job anyway, as national coach with the Austria team. Hew can now concentrate on that without any regard to what is happening at Old Trafford.
He leaves the club with his reputation somewhat tarnished because of his inability to get the best out of the assets that were placed at his disposal. However, by no means does he bear sole responsibility for that, and the lion’s share of blame attaches to those who gave him the job in the first place, and then limited his remit in such a way.
Many of the players also need to examine their consciences and ask themselves if they did all they could to make his tenure a success.