Erik ten Hag admits that “Rangnick was right” following Manchester United changes

Ralf Rangnick’s time at Manchester United was marred with issues, but ultimately, the words he dictated surrounding the club have been spot on.

Ralf Rangnick became Manchester United‘s caretaker manager in November 2021 after Ole Gunnar Solskjær was sacked following a string of poor results.

Rangnick’s time came shortly after the club had signed Cristiano Ronaldo, Raphaël Varane, and Jadon Sancho, and he guided the club to a 6th-placed finish in the Premier League.

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But Ragnignck’s real impact at United was his brutally honest assessment of the club. He claimed his squad needed to sign 10 new players and perform “an operation of the open heart” to reach the heights they aspired to.

Ten Hag joined the club as the next permanent manager following Rangnick’s quick stint at Old Trafford and has admitted that he inherited a “no good culture” when he joined in 2022.

In a recent lengthy interview, Ten Hag admitted that he completely agreed with Rangnick’s words, explaining that changing the club is a very complex operation, much like open heart surgery.

“Rangnick was absolutely right,” Ten Hag told AD Sportwereld. “We’ve been working very hard on that for two years, but he said it just right: it’s a thorough, very complex operation.

“And I knew when I started that it was going to be a tough job. There are a lot of people who have advised me. Louis van Gaal (the former United manager) too.

“We want this club back to where it was more than a decade ago, to a club that wins the Premier League, which can win Champions Leagues. We are really a long way away from that, I think.

“I think we’ve taken steps since then. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have won two prizes (the FA Cup and Carabao Cup) either. But we are not yet so far that a ‘winning culture’ already prevails here in all respects. Our standards, norms and values still need to go up.

“I was not shocked (by what I inherited). But the culture, the mentality was really not good. To win, to really achieve top performance every week, we had to change a lot.”

Since Ten Hag took over as manager, British billionaire Sir Jim Ratcliffe has part-bought the club. His INEOS Sport team then took over all sporting operations at Old Trafford and hired a new CEO, new Sporting Director, new Technical Director, and new Director of Recruitment.

United now seem to be heading in the right direction now as the foundations for a new era at Old Trafford, but there is a long way to go.

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