Manchester United have appointed Ralf Rangnick as their interim manager until the end of the season. The 63-year-old takes over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who was sacked on 21 November. Rangnick has left his role as head of sports and development at Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow to take up the job.
So who exactly is Ralf Rangnick?
After an uneventful career as a player, Rangnick began his coaching career in 1983, at age 25. In 1997, he was hired by former club Ulm 1846, with whom he won the Regionalliga Süd in his debut season.
Rangnick was then appointed by Bundesliga club VfB Stuttgart, winning the UEFA Intertoto Cup in 2000, but was dismissed in 2001. He subsequently joined Hannover 96, winning the 2. Bundesliga, but was dismissed in 2004.
After a brief period with Schalke 04, Rangnick joined 1899 Hoffenheim in 2006, and achieved successive promotions to the Bundesliga. He departed the club in 2011 and returned to Schalke 04, where he won the 2011 DFB-Pokal and reached the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League. He later served as head coach at RB Leipzig across two periods between 2015 and 2019.
Rangnick joined Red Bull as director of football in 2012, helping oversee their expansion into European football, emphasising the recruitment of unproven players and developing youth systems with a worldwide scouting base and an attacking on-pitch philosophy across their clubs.
As a result, Red Bull clubs rose in market value from €120 million to €1.2 billion during his tenure. Their clubs have also seen sustained domestic success and generated sizable profits with player transfers, which led to Rangnick’s promotion to head of sport and development in 2019. He resigned from Red Bull in 2020 and joined Russian club Lokomotiv Moscow as manager of sports and development in 2021.
Rangnick is credited with developing Gegenpressing, whereby the team, after losing possession, immediately attempts to win back possession, rather than falling back to regroup. His sides have been noted for their pressing and high attacking output, as well as for popularizing zonal marking.
Rangnick has cited his main coaching influences as Ernst Happel, Valeriy Lobanovskyi, Arrigo Sacchi, and Zdeněk Zeman, and is credited for influencing Thomas Tuchel, Julian Nagelsmann, Ralph Hasenhüttl and Jürgen Klopp.
Rangnick will come to Old Trafford with a small number of staff but the current coaches – who all stayed on following Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s dismissal – will remain.
He has a lot of work in front of him, that’s for sure.
Visit Hollywoodbets for the latest betting odds for the English Premier League.
My Goat Sports 