John Giles joined Off The Ball on Thursday night to discuss Manchester United's new manager Ralf Rangnick.
Ralf Rangnick is here. For now.
Manchester United officially unveiled the German as their interim manager until the end of the season this week. Rangnick is an intense character who influenced Jurgen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel amongst others. Uli Hesse joined The Football Show on Wednesday night to explain what Rangnick can bring to Manchester United.
He will move into a consultant role at the end of the season. Hesse thinks that is where Rangnick fits best. But it's unclear what his actual role will be.
John Giles doesn't believe in interim managers.
The former Manchester United and Leeds player joined Nathan Murphy on Thursday night to explain the mistakes that the Manchester United board have made with Ralf Rangnick.
"Manchester United got themselves in a big, big mess," Giles said.
"They're doing their best to get out of it and I'm not so sure doing what they're doing at the moment will get them out of the mess. I think it's the way they should be going, there's no doubt about that, but not on an interim basis. This guy is not the manager, he's only the manager until the end of the season.
"I don't think interim managers work."
Giles is not a fan of the process that Manchester United are undertaking. It's a fair criticism, especially since this plan wasn't thought out over time. It was reactionary to firing Ole Gunnar Solskjaer during the season when they didn't want to. Unlike the FAI, who hired Stephen Kenny and implemented an interim manager ahead of him to facilitate youth development, Manchester United have no succession plan in place.
That undermines Rangnick's authority with the current players.
"In my experience as a professional footballer, when you had a manager, you had to believe he was with you forever. Because you played for him. His tactics. His way. He was the boss. You had to please him. In an interim manager, you say what is he going to do next year, is he going to be here next year. Do I have to play for him?
"That's the dressing room connection in my experience."
Instead of making Rangnick a consultant, Giles questions why he's not on a longer deal as manager.
"If this guy is that good, why not give him the job now for two years? Why do you have to wait? If he's worth his salt, then he's worth his salt now."
Ralf Rangnick should wage "war" on Manchester United players | Pat Nevin
Football on Off The Ball, brought to you by Sky.
All the football you love in one place across Sky Sports, BT Sport & Premier Sports.
Download the brand new OffTheBall App in the Play Store & App Store right now! We've got you covered!
Subscribe to OffTheBall's YouTube channel for more videos, like us on Facebook or follow us on Twitter for the latest sporting news and content.
