Rangnick managed both RB Leipzig, the current number 3 in German football, and Schalke 04 in a time where they were considered a top 3 club as well. He reached the cup final trice and won it once with Schalke. He lead Schalke and RB Leipzig to 2nd and 3rd places in the Bundesliga.
Sure it's hard to compare between different leagues but I think the size and strength of the clubs are at least of similar level.
As a Schalke coach he obviously never coached Dortmund. Bayern would never appoint him due to ongoing quarrels with the board. Not for footballing reasons. You can compare the situation with Christoph Daum who was a top coach but never had a chance to manage Munich.
I only remember that Hassenhüttl hit a ceiling and that season things were even going downwards. They only finished 6th and his football was seen as too one dimensional. They wanted Nagelsmann but he wasn't yet available and Rangnick was the care taker for one season (maybe that's why the United board thought Rangnick was a good choice?).
The finished 3rd and reached the German cup final. So clearly Rangnick improved them.
I don't question your statement as you are much more knowledgeable about football. I don't doubt ETH is good coach playing attractive football.
My concern was purely from a player and team management point of view. Managing the big egos, dealing with steady leaks of interns to the press, players consistently complaining about being not happy with the training, the rules, training times, positions they have to play, issues between different groups within the squad....
I'm not following United that closely but when I read articles they mostly were about players being unhappy for various reasons.
Red Cafe is full of threads about these issues.
Many were saying Rangnick wasn't experienced enough to manage a big club like United. He couldn't deal with the huge egos of the stars and couldn't mold a team that was playing successful football.
I actually believe Rangnick is an excellent man manager and knows better than most how to build a team. He isn't afraid to take the necessary though decisions. But of course he needs the full backing off the board.
When Klopp and Pep joined Liverpool and Man City they immediately started a huge clear out with the full support of the board. Rangnick never got this support. I believe Rangnick would be able to assemble a strong squad being able to compete. He showed it at all his previous clubs. However, this can't be done in 6 months.
Now ETH doesn't have this experience at all. He is surely a good coach. Would he take over Man City, I'm sure he would be successful. What I mean ETH needs a functional team. He then will most likely make it better. However, I doubt he is the ideal guy for a big clear out and total rebuild of the squad. I might be wrong and the future will tell
You know when ten Hag arrived at Ajax, they hadn't won the league for several years. And in his first full season, ten Hag won the league with Ajax after the club had not won it since 2014. So after 5 years they won the league with a head coach who was under immense pressure from get-go from the fans to not only win the league but also to do it playing a attractive brand of football, which he also achieved. This is a fan base that is very demanding on their coaches to win, and they hadn't won the league for several years prior to ten Hag's arrival. And not only did ten Hag win consecutive titles domestically but he also guided Ajax out of the group stages of the Champions league for the first time since 2006. And the likes of Schalke and the financially doped up clubs like Hoffenheim and Leipzig don't compare to the expectations at Ajax who are 4 × European champions and have a extremely demanding fan base that won't settle for second best, and want the club to achieve effectiveness as well as aesthetics.
I do believe United looked at Rangnick's interim stint at RB Leipzig where he did well for a whole season before giving him the job. But what you can't plan for mid-season is the exodus of several of the first team coaches that pretty much left after the dismissal of Solskjaer. And that left both Rangnick and Murtough in a very difficult situation after inheriting a fractured dressing room and a team comprised of mostly players who were/are comfortable playing against the ball in a low/mid-block. But Rangnick exacerbated a already fractured dressing room and went public in his criticism and further destabilised a dressing room that seemed very low on morale. Some in the press/media say it was Rangnick saving face after his failure on the training ground. And no competent club backs a place holder in the transfer market.
Hasenhuttl did finish runner up in RB Leipzig's debut season and then finished 6th in his second and also final season at the club. And according to Hasenhuttl himself in February this year, he blamed people other than Rangnick who wanted him out due to him being one dimensional as a purely pressing coach. And Rangnick himself is the same and is also a purely pressing coach and is very limited when it comes to working with the ball in possession. But to be fair to Hasenhuttl, he has been trying to develop a on the ball approach.
And as far as clearouts go, we have allowed the managers to do that, and LVG made a complete mess in that regard and we got rid of players who were arguably more effective for us than the ones we bought. Mourinho was also allowed to sell players like Blind and buy replacements like Lindelof for about 5 x the amount. And these are just some of the many examples I can give you.
United's problem has been the same for almost a decade now. And that is they have have repeatedly allowed the first team manager to control recruitment. And they've allowed the managers to control recruitment whilst also allowing them to work with their own personal recruitment staff, and they've cumulatively made a mess out of recruitment.
And whilst all that was happening, the club had also tasked John Murtough (Head of development outside of the first team) to modernise the club when it came to scouting, data analytics, sports science, youth development etc. Because it was widely reported that when Fergie retired in 2013, we only had one full-time scout at the club (Jim Lawlor). So the scouting network was growing but the board led by Woodward was still allowing the board/manager model to prolong its course. And the scouting network became a after thought at first team level, but it (scouting network) was starting to deliver at youth level, and from 2016 to the present day, the calibre of youth players brought in at the club has been identifiably better, and we recently won the FA Youth Cup.
Bayern doesn't allow the first team trainer to have his own personal scouts. So our issue is that we needed a competent head coach (not manager) to come in and work with the existing structure on the football side of the club and bring forth a figure head from the football structure to work with the head coach. And that's what is referred to as the DoF/head coach model that is in full swing at Liverpool and Man City.
Like I've said before I can't predict the future, but our issue like I've explained is that we keep trying the same thing over and over again with the manager in the hope one will turn up with a magic wand. But that method doesn't work in the modern game with football departments growing exponentially since Fergie retired. And having a figurehead who works independently from the first team trainer running those departments is what we haven't done in the last 10 years. So the difference is that we're now going into a season for the first time in our history with a DoF/head coach model. That's the difference and for me our scouting network will be empowered for the first time since it's formation in 2016.
