Ralf Rangnick has revealed his ‘biggest disappointment’ at Manchester United as he gets set to manage the club for the last time this weekend.
German coach Rangnick was appointed as United’s interim manager in November after the sacking of club legend Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. As at then United were eighth but Rangnick has the Red Devils lingering sixth in the Premier League ahead of Sunday’s final game against Crystal Palace.
Under Rangnick, the club also suffered an embarrassing FA Cup defeat to Championship side Middlesbrough and were knocked out of the Champions League at the last-16 stage by Atletico Madrid.
When asked identify his ‘biggest disappointment’ at his final pre-match press conference on Friday afternoon, May 20, Ragnick said;
‘Since Atletico we just didn’t find our shape or form again,’ said the 63-year-old, who is set to be replaced by Ajax’s Erik ten Hag.
‘Before then we had stabilised the team, become more stable defensively. But then we lost confidence and energy.
‘It has got to do with confidence, team spirit and togetherness. This is my biggest disappointment that we didn’t establish that team spirit.
‘I still strongly believe that there is a core of players here who are top, good enough to play for this club.’
Rangnick who is now manager of Austria will now combine the job with an advisory role at Old Trafford.
‘We spoke about that in detail,’ Rangnick said after confirming him and Erik Ten Haag had been in contact this week.
‘We spoke about all the different areas where I could maybe be of help.
‘It’s not that difficult to know in which areas this could be. I think we showed that in the last 15 years with Hoffenheim, Salzburg and Leipzig, even for clubs not as prominent as Manchester United, it’s possible to identify, develop and even at one stage sell players.
‘I know Manchester United is not a selling club but rather a developing and buying club, but this is possible and this is what is most important, that the club finds players for whom it is the next next logical step is in their career, to develop their sporting career.
‘If that happens, I can be positive and I can hopefully be encouraging for our fans that we will bring United back to the top.’