Rangnick on Fletcher: What his role is, I don't really know

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Maciej

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Rangnick is assisted by American coach Chris Armas and ex-United player Darren Fletcher who was appointed by the club working behind the scenes as a technical director but is now a visible tracksuited presence alongside the manager.

'He has always been part of each training session, of each game,' added Rangnick. 'Obviously he (Fletcher) knows the players, I will ask him his opinion.

'What his role is with regard to the club, I don't really know to be honest. I can only tell you what is happening around training session and games. In those areas it is good to have him on board.'

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/f...nds-record-manager-amid-recent-struggles.html
So he's basically saying it's nice to have someone to put the cones out at training.
 

devilish

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Phelan and Fletcher's role seem to be eluding everybody with some football sense.
 

Marwood

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Have to wonder why a Manchester United fan would be chopping up the managers words in order to denigrate another member of staff.
 

Maciej

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Have to wonder why a Manchester United fan would be chopping up the managers words in order to denigrate another member of staff.
Well, because if that's true it shows what exactly has been wrong with this club.
 

Adisa

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I love Rangnick for this. He answers plainly. But is raises different questions.
  • What kind of Technical Director has the same job role as a coach?
  • If Fletcher is a Technical Director, why does Murtough need an assistant?
  • Much has been made of Rangnick's consultancy role/wider role. If that's the case, he should know who is who within the footballing pyramid of the club. That he doesn't means the first part can't be true.
 

Greck

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Well Ralf is within the structure and knows about as much as us so all we can do is try piece together loose information and come up with theories but I think Fletcher is like the day to day manager who actually goes around making sure things are working. Technical directors in some organisations are the ones doing implementation and logistics decided on by their higher ups. Think that's also how Phelan's role at the club has been described internally so excuse me for thinking it's also a bit funny that he too was a recipient of Ralf's brutal honesty. There's probably some redundancy or overlap if they both don't make executive decisions or bring technical coaching.

Don't know for sure (no one does) but I think some like Phelan are only at the club because Murtough went and renewed them weeks before Ole got sacked. Otherwise Fletcher as a technical director doing the grunt work (among other functions) makes sense.

edit: probably not the most seasoned (which raises its own issues about our general appointments) but I'd take it easy on Fletcher when scrutinizing key figures. He likely isn't a major voice in any of the key decisions that have plagued us the last 3 years.
 
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Marwood

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Well, because if that's true it shows what exactly has been wrong with this club.
If what's true?

Your version of Rangnick's words or what Rangnick actually said?

Like I asked, why chop his words up? What you've presented as the thread title is quite different from what was actually said.
 

Maticmaker

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Trying to understand anybody's role at OT is getting very difficult, e.g.
Is Murtough the CEO or the DoF or Avram's 'gofor'?
Is the manager really the consultant in disguise?
Is the technical director, the one who explains things to players who don't understand the pictures shown to them on the Ipad by the training staff when they take the field as a sub?
Is Mike Phelan no longer in charge of the cones, if not who is??

Then we wonder why the sports press and other media have a field day at our expense!
 

Redlyn

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If what's true?

Your version of Rangnick's words or what Rangnick actually said?

Like I asked, why chop his words up? What you've presented as the thread title is quite different from what was actually said.
Did he change the title? Because I don't see the difference: What his role is with regard to the club, I don't really know to be honest.
 

Deery

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Ohh, that stings a bit for Fletcher, reading between the lines sounds like “WTF need is there for Fletcher”..
 

Mickeza

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Ohh, that stings a bit for Fletcher, reading between the lines sounds like “WTF need is there for Fletcher”..
He’s saying in his typically blunt fashion that he can’t comment on what he does in relation to club matters but he helps me on the training ground/match day with the players. I haven’t seen the conference but I’m going to guess Samuel twathurst asked the question.
 

macheda14

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Ohh, that stings a bit for Fletcher, reading between the lines sounds like “WTF need is there for Fletcher”..
Yeh reading between the lines it sounds like he doesn’t think it’s good having him on board:

‘I can only tell you what is happening around training session and games. In those areas it is good to have him on board.'
 

Marwood

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Did he change the title? Because I don't see the difference: What his role is with regard to the club, I don't really know to be honest.
Yeah he chopped out "with regard to the club" then omitted the bit about training and games. Have to ask why do that?

The club gets enough stick without its own fans misrepresenting the manager's words to pile on further.
 

Redlyn

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With Fletch who really knows and it's odd the manager doesnt. Right now it just seems like it's a case of give an old boy a job doing something...anything. Just look busy.
 

noodlehair

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He probably wanted someone involved with the coaching who actually knows the players and the club, and since he lost Carrick and can't really put his own team together mid season and after not coaching for years, Fletcher fit the bill.

I mean it's not even that hard to work out. If we wanted someone to bring their own coaching team in mid season we should have appointed someone who actually has a coaching team.
 

Redlyn

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Yeah he chopped out "with regard to the club" then omitted the bit about training and games. Have to ask why do that?

The club gets enough stick without its own fans misrepresenting the manager's words to pile on further.

That doesn't affect the context though. Fletch hangs around the training ground but bottom line is he doesn't know what the role of Fletch is. I don't see any misrepresentation. He was supposed to add the bit about training also in the title? Seems you really just want to be annoyed.
 

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  • Much has been made of Rangnick's consultancy role/wider role. If that's the case, he should know who is who within the footballing pyramid of the club. That he doesn't means the first part can't be true.
Yes, this is the big question. If we are serious about Rangnick having a proper consultancy role and listening to him, he really should know what job the staff are actually doing. This makes it seem like either Fletcher is being lost in there somewhere and not really playing much of a part (outside of the hands-on stuff that Rangnick is seeing with the players), or we aren't involving Rangnick as much as we should be with the higher level stuff. Both are a bit worrying.
 

sugar_kane

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I like Rangnick’s fairly blunt answer style but saying stuff like this is fecking stupid, it just pisses people off in the club and encourages ridicule from out of the club.

Must be terrible for the morale of the players.

The Phelan response you could sort of forgive as he was still very new to the club and perhaps not accustomed to the English press, but to be honest if he’s been here over 3 months and still doesn’t know the job of every guy on the bench that’s on him as much Fletcher or the club hierarchy.
 

Trequarista10

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This quote makes more sense when you are aware that we lost two coaches (Carrick and McKenna), added one, and Fletcher took over coaching responsibilities to cover too. Which Rangnick said a while ago. Still a bit odd and suggests confusion in the structure but it's not a dig at Fletcher.

I do like Rangnick's honesty but it's a little frustrating he still hasn't realised that United is a different beast and you can't make simple comments without the fans and media over analysing them and coming up with a hidden meanings and multiple different angles and interpretations. He needs to be clearer in what he's saying. If he's having a dig and wants a change say it explicitly. If he's not, he needs to make it clear too.
 

Tom Cato

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That doesn't affect the context though. Fletch hangs around the training ground but bottom line is he doesn't know what the role of Fletch is. I don't see any misrepresentation. Seems you really just want to be annoyed.
Its more the fan response of "ThIs is what is wrong with the club".

Its interesting because no one has any clue what Ralfs role is going to be besides "consulting" for Murtough.

That this post will inevitably spurt a few opinions about what his position will be underlines that.
 

Deery

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He’s saying in his typically blunt fashion that he can’t comment on what he does in relation to club matters but he helps me on the training ground/match day with the players. I haven’t seen the conference but I’m going to guess Samuel twathurst asked the question.
I don’t think that’s what he’s saying at all..
 

Leftback99

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Glad to have him round the training pitch given we lost the old lot but it says it all about our mess of a structure behind the scenes that an experienced man like Ralf can't explain what he does.
 

arnie_ni

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If what's true?

Your version of Rangnick's words or what Rangnick actually said?

Like I asked, why chop his words up? What you've presented as the thread title is quite different from what was actually said.
He actually said he doesn't know what his role is though.
 

Deery

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I like Rangnick’s fairly blunt answer style but saying stuff like this is fecking stupid, it just pisses people off in the club and encourages ridicule from out of the club.

Must be terrible for the morale of the players.

The Phelan response you could sort of forgive as he was still very new to the club and perhaps not accustomed to the English press, but to be honest if he’s been here over 3 months and still doesn’t know the job of every guy on the bench that’s on him as much Fletcher or the club hierarchy.
I’d disagree I actually like it, if the club are not running things right it’s good to have someone call it out and not be afraid to offend so called club legends. It shows backbone and balls, something we’ve been missing.
 

AFC NimbleThumb

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If what's true?

Your version of Rangnick's words or what Rangnick actually said?

Like I asked, why chop his words up? What you've presented as the thread title is quite different from what was actually said.
Can you post the original comments that give such a different context please?
 

marktan

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It's no secret that there's incompetence across the board in the management roles at United, stemming from the board itself which is made up of like 6 Glazers and a couple of accountants. These guys have no interest or expertise when it comes to football, and so we end up with random choices for the coaching and management roles which then translates into poor player recruitment, poor manager recruitment and in general rubbish football.

As a point I was reading this article today in the Athletic about a guy called Riccardo Pecini who's worked at multiple European clubs as a scout and worked on a lot of good signings from the weaker leagues that became very profitable for their clubs. Now he's at Spezia because he was head hunted by the guy who bought the club, who works at MSD capital (who've made a lot of loans to football clubs recently). A guy like that is way more experienced and clued in than most of the people we have on the footballing management staff at United and yet you can be 110% sure that no one on United's board has even heard of him.
 

Adisa

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That doesn't affect the context though. Fletch hangs around the training ground but bottom line is he doesn't know what the role of Fletch is. I don't see any misrepresentation. He was supposed to add the bit about training also in the title? Seems you really just want to be annoyed.
Rangnick's words are pretty clear. He isn't questioning Fletcher's usefulness. He is acknowledging Fletcher's role as a coach but doesn't know anything about his role beyond that.
 

VP89

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What do you think he’s saying then? Pray tell.
That Fletcher adds good value to training sessions and knows the players well. Fletchers role, as you should know, also extends to feeding back up to Murtough on how the ground level looks, which Rangnick is not really in the loop about because he's busy being the head coach of the club until end of season. Rangnick clearly insinuates he'll know more about the full picture after his role as manager ends and he moves upstairs.

This is quite clear. But of course it's easier to spin sensationalist narratives.
 

Adisa

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Yes, this is the big question. If we are serious about Rangnick having a proper consultancy role and listening to him, he really should know what job the staff are actually doing. This makes it seem like either Fletcher is being lost in there somewhere and not really playing much of a part (outside of the hands-on stuff that Rangnick is seeing with the players), or we aren't involving Rangnick as much as we should be with the higher level stuff. Both are a bit worrying.
My worry as well. How can the coach not know the entirety of the role of someone you say is the "technical director"? Doesn't make sense and doesn't speak well about the direction of the club.
 

Deery

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What do you think he’s saying then? Pray tell.
He’s saying he “doesn’t know” what he does for the club, not that he ‘can’t comment’ like it’s some kind of club secret.
 

Leftback99

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My worry as well. How can the coach not know the entirety of the role of someone you say is the "technical director"? Doesn't make sense and doesn't speak well about the direction of the club.
You could maybe understand it if he was just a coach, but for someone experienced in different roles as Ralf you would expect him to have an idea. It should all be well defined.
 
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