The comedian Michael Spicer had neatly packaged the phenomenon in a skit. “This is Manchester United we’re talking about,” he says, passionately circling the same phrase in different guises as a mirror to punditry of the club.
Spicer had touched on the reality that much is said about the modern United, but most of it is meaningless and repetitive.
There is a loop of pure rage, ranting, and resentment, which makes for compelling TV and viral social media clips, but does little to move the dial on understanding just where United are, how far they need to travel to return to the top, and what is imperative if they are to get close again.
It never stuns how quickly surface-level solutions are proposed to solve what are obviously inherently deep issues at the Old Trafford club. The demand for more signings – this is Manchester United we’re talking about! – is ceaseless despite a flawed organisational set-up being the root cause of poor squad construction.
United cannot magically get better at recruitment, or overall strategy and reconstructing a culture of excellence, if they do not do things differently.
They cannot compete with Manchester City and Liverpool on the pitch if they cannot match them off it by implementing a sustainable, surgical structure.
This leads us to Ralf Rangnick. There has been an overflow of snark levelled at the 63-year-old, which has been both unsightly and unfair.
He is not a managerial heavyweight in the esteem of Pep Guardiola, Jurgen Klopp or Antonio Conte, but the man in United’s interim role is one of the few elite minds that can help reshape the club behind the scenes.
Details around Rangnick’s “consultancy role” are opaque, but it would be rather foolish of John Murtough to ignore his expertise after previously extensively seeking it.
United’s football director regularly conversed with Rangnick over recruitment, analytics, academy and medical structures, which culminated with Murtough spending half a day at RB Leipzig’s Cottaweg facilities to gain a comprehensive education.
It is inarguable that the German’s ability to mould smart, successful methodologies – as seen at Hoffenheim, Salzburg and Leipzig – is appreciated by the club’s hierarchy.
But “this is Manchester United we’re talking about”, so why have they appointed Lokomotiv Moscow’s sporting director on a temporary basis?
Reducing Rangnick to his last job title has been viewed as quite distasteful in football circles, with one coach telling The Independent: “Ask Jurgen, Nagelsmann, Hasenhuttl, Tuchel, Marsch and anyone respected in Germany and Austria what they think of Ralf and his influence on the game. Some of the things we have read and heard about him is a disgrace.”
Of course, the views of these figures are public knowledge. Rangnick is held in the highest esteem by the managers we rate highest. Are they on his PR payroll?
Most of the venom aimed at him is on account of his light managerial CV. Bar two transition spells in the Leipzig dugout when he paved the path for the appointments they really wanted and were willing to wait for (sound familiar?), Rangnick’s last proper job in the hotseat was in 2011.
It is a fair criticism to point out his inactive managerial years, even if he was implementing a platform of success for those at the helm. The fact that he was approached by AC Milan and Chelsea seems to now be airbrushed, along with the fact the revered Dan Ashworth wanted him to be England manager but Sam Allardyce narrowly won more board votes.
Anyway, United did not hire Rangnick as a permanent pick, and given the circumstances he walked into, he has overseen a significant uptick in the club’s underlying metrics. The xG and xGA columns don’t lie.
He inherited the Cristiano Ronaldo conundrum, Raphael Varane’s fitness issues, an Edinson Cavani who has clearly had enough, a diseased dressing room with more self-serving leaks than in-match resilience, plus the fact that he can be fobbed off as some temporary irritation.
That is without factoring in the Mason Greenwood situation, which for legal reasons cannot be detailed with the disdain it deserves.
Despite all this, United are more structured in and out of possession under Rangnick, there is greater balance rather than reliance on the left, a compact defensive shape, the real Jadon Sancho has begun to emerge and Anthony Elanga has been a revelation.
Chance creation has enormously improved as a consequence of better build-up sequences, reducing the billing of Individual Moments FC.
There will be the counter that United, with the exception of City who thoroughly walloped them, haven’t been tested against the better teams in the division.
Perhaps it was a trick of the mind that they were outplayed by Wolves, Southampton and Aston Villa as well as humiliated by Watford and Young Boys earlier in the season.
To ignore that United have been better – albeit with some horrendous finishing – goes against all possible evidence.
The shellacking by City – and the questions surrounding the fitness of Ronaldo and Cavani – only furthered what was already common knowledge about a largely over-indulged group, and spoke to why a complete overhaul of recruitment and strategy is imperative.
There has been understandable angst that United did not hire Conte when they had the chance, before Tottenham swooped in.
The Italian is a serial winner with a habit of turning mess into magic on his terms. I was an advocate of United bringing him in for the immediate future (an effective Conte usually spans two years), while they quietly worked to remedy operational matters.
Sources at the club have indicated such a dual approach would not have been workable and would have reduced the focus on long-term correction.
United already generate floods of drama without the emotive outbursts seen from Conte at Spurs, and are desperately seeking stability.
There have been shouts that Ernesto Valverde should have been considered ahead of Rangnick, but why would he have accepted a short-term gig? He was not viewed as the right recruit moving forward.
Rangnick has seen United’s missteps up close and has been cuttingly honest in his press conferences.
There have noticeably been no counter-punches to the dressing room leaks, with the manager choosing to publicly address any issues when asked by the media.
His insight and experience can be the tonic to help transform the club into a better-run entity that carefully builds around a concrete playing identity and stylistic profile, investing in the football operation beyond headline names for commercial gain.
The Rangnick experiment can only be fully appraised by what United do after the interim period, and how they enact his wisdom moving forward.
The obsession with the manager betrays the crucial element we should be monitoring: the strength and efficiency of structural changes.
“This is Manchester United we’re talking about” and it’s going to take a lot of intelligence, effort, trust and patience to end the loop of pure rage, ranting and resentment.
