Ralf Rangnick has reflected on his claim that Manchester United needed “open-heart surgery” two years on from his bombshell statement.
The Austria head coach made the claim in one of his final press conferences as interim manager of the Red Devils, in April 2022, having taken over from Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in December.
“You don’t even need glasses to see and analyse where the problems are,” he said. “Now, it’s about how do we solve them? It’s not enough to do some minor amendments, cosmetic things.
“In medicine, you would say that this is an operation of the open heart. If this happens and everyone has realised that this has to happen and if people want to work together. I believe it doesn’t take two or three years to change those things, this can happen within one year.
“For sure [strong leadership is needed]. This is something that not one single person as a manager can do. In all areas you have to have top people and they have to work together in a very close, reliable way.”
Rangnick was scheduled to move into the club’s boardroom at the end of that season but didn’t on the back of his stark assessment of the club.
Erik ten Hag took charge of the club that summer, led United to third in his debut season but struggled hugely last term, with the Red Devils ending the campaign in eighth, their lowest ever Premier League finish.
He did though win the FA Cup having won the Carabao Cup the season before, and after a thorough strategic review of the club, new co-owner and head of football operations Sir Jim Ratcliffe decided to retain the Dutchman as head coach, extending his contract by a further year.
Speaking in July, Ten Hag admitted he agreed with Rangnick’s reset analysis: “[Ralf] Rangnick was absolutely right. We’ve been working very hard on that [high standards] for two years, but he said it just right; it’s a thorough, very complex operation.”
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A transparent attempt to give himself excuses, but the sack talk has once again arrived on the back of two defeats in his opening three games of the season, with various reports suggesting Ratcliffe and his team are considering their options.
Rangnick was asked about his and Ten Hag’s comments ahead of Austria’s clash with Norway on Monday.
“I probably made that statement when the season was almost over about two years ago,” the 66-year-old told TV2. “It’s probably only two or three weeks since Erik ten Hag was asked the same thing.
“Then he said that I was right in my analysis. I don’t know how many players they have signed since, but it looks like I was right.”
