On Monday, November 29, Manchester United announced the appointment of Ralph Rangnick as interim head coach of the club, who most recently served as Lokomotiv's head of sports and development.

The agreement with the German specialist is calculated until the end of the season.

After this period, he will advise the club for two years.

Manchester is eagerly awaiting the opportunity to start cooperation with the German and thanked the Moscow team for the maximum assistance in the process of a kind of transfer.

According to Mancunian director John Murtaugh, Rangnick is one of the most respected coaches and innovators in European football.

“Taking into account the invaluable leadership and technical skills he has accumulated over almost 40 years of managerial and coaching activities, he was our number one candidate for the position of interim coach,” the functionary said.

Welcome to Manchester United, Ralf Rangnick 🔴🇩🇪 # MUFC

- Manchester United (@ManUtd) November 29, 2021

The 63-year-old German specialist himself said he was pleased with his appointment and intends to focus on making this season successful for the Mancunians, who are only eighth in the Premier League after 13 rounds, 12 points behind leading Chelsea.

“The team is full of talent and has an excellent balance of youth and experience.

Over the next six months, all my efforts will be focused on helping these players reach their potential, both individually and (most importantly) as a team.

In addition, I will be happy to support the long-term goals of the club on an advisory basis, ”Rangnik announced.

At Lokomotiv, Ralph was replaced by his partner in the consulting agency, video analyst Lars Kornetka, who had already participated in many of the internal processes of the red-greens.

He will have to deal with, among other things, strategic planning and sports development, as well as the work of the vertical of the railway teams, the academy and the preparation of the reserve.

Kornetka will be assisted by Thomas Zorn, appointed to the post of sports director.

Lokomotiv started cooperation with Rangnik in February 2021.

At first he acted as a consultant in the development of the strategy, and in July he took up the work on its implementation and implementation as head of the club for sports and development.

The specialist is known for his work as a mentor at Hoffenheim, Stuttgart and Schalke.

Later he became the ideologist of the collectives of the Red Bull system: Leipzig, Salzburg, New York and Bragantino.

There he managed to build a structure in which the philosophy was to find talented football players for little money, develop them and then sell them.

At the same time, all the teams of the coach tried to adhere to an intense and attacking style.

In fact, he was invited to Russia to build such a system. During his work, he spent one of the largest transfer companies in the RPL: ​​the club spent € 30.18 million and acquired Girano Kerk, Tina Yedvaya, Konstantin Maradishvili, Nair Tiknizyan, Maxim Nenakhov, Alexis Bek-Bek and Tino Angorin. At the same time, the railway workers began to get rid of older players: after the expiration of the contract, Vladislav Ignatiev left the team, and Grzegorz Krykhovyak was sold to Krasnodar. Moreover, the departure of the Pole was ambiguously perceived by the fans and the media, since the question arose how the red-greens can so easily let go of their leader.

In addition, there was a coaching change: instead of Marko Nikolic, who won the Russian Cup with the red-greens, Markus Gisdol was appointed to the post of mentor.

Rangnik himself denied any involvement in the dismissal of the Serb, however, according to information in the press, the decision on Nikolic was taken directly by Ralph.

Now, after a month and a half, Rangnik himself is leaving the club, although at the October press conference he promised to turn Lokomotiv into Sapsan and called his goal to increase the transfer value of the team.

Nevertheless, the Moscow team thanked the specialist for the work done and said that the modern European football training system he had implemented would continue to work in the future.

“Under the leadership of Rangnik, a scout department, a block for medicine and innovation was created in a short time, a system of advanced video analytics was introduced, a coaching staff was formed, high-tech information systems were launched ... The club will develop in accordance with the announced long-term strategy. Ralph Rangnick has attracted experienced specialists to key positions and has formed a team of professionals that will continue to patiently and consistently move in the chosen direction, the main priority of which is the development of young football players both from Russia and from other countries, ”the railway workers said in a statement.

The club also noted that contact with the German on the future of Loko will remain after his departure to Manchester United, but the coach himself has not yet said anything about this.

In addition, according to insider Fabrizio Romano, the red-greens will not even receive compensation from the Mancunians for breaking the agreement, although the contract was signed for three years.

The ex-trainer of the railroad workers Yuri Semin noted that this is not the first time such situations have occurred in the club, and urged to believe in the best.

And the defender of Lokomotiv Maciej Rybus admitted that it was difficult for him to understand the decision of the German specialist, because he was in charge of all the processes and brought a lot of new people into the team, and now he suddenly left him. 

At the same time, the former president of three-time champions of Russia Nikolai Naumov does not see anything surprising in Rangnick's departure to Manchester United.

In his opinion, the German coach is a businessman from the world of football and will always use the opportunity to earn money.

He will leave his people for Lokomotiv and they will work.

He thinks it's okay.

Well, yes, I came, earned money here, left people and left.

Zorn and the team will stay, continue to do their job, and he will advise.

Rangnik can handle everything, the invisible hand of capital in football.

Now they will bring players to England, send them here ... The more countries it covers, the better, "Championship" quotes Naumov.

In turn, the ex-football player of the red-greens Dmitry Bulykin admitted that the team left by the German specialist would be enough for the Russian club, and therefore there is no need to worry about his departure.

“In sports, the main criterion is the result.

If it is, then everything is working well.

The railroad workers have changed their style of play, but we will see the fully built German Lokomotiv after the winter break.

Then we can say what good happened under Rangnick and what will happen next with the club, "Bulykin said.