Soccer

Rangnick dismisses van Gaal’s criticism of ‘commercial club’ Manchester United

Ex-united manager warned Ajax manager Erik ten Hag of taking job at Old Trafford

Ralf Rangnick’s side face Leicester on Saturday. Photograph: Mike Egerton/PA

Fri Apr 1 2022 - 22:31

Ralf Rangnick has dismissed Louis van Gaal’s criticism that Manchester United are a “commercial club” by pointing out that despite holding this opinion the Dutchman signed a contract to be manager in 2014.

Van Gaal’s comments came when discussing the candidacy of Erik ten Hag, the Ajax manager, who is on the shortlist to be United’s number one when Rangnick’s interim tenure ends in May. Van Gaal, who led United for two years, warned his compatriot to go to a “football club” rather than to Old Trafford.

“Louis himself as an experienced coach signed a contract here some years ago and he could have known that in advance if he had that opinion,” Rangnick said. “Football worldwide is a commercialised business that’s for sure.”

Accused

Rangnick did partly agree with Gary Neville, the former United captain and now Sky Sports pundit, who accused Rangnick, United players and members of the executive of being “tone deaf” after they posted on social media and travelled to different global locations after being knocked out of the Champions League by Atlético Madrid on March 15th.

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The defeat came four days before the Premier League games and FA Cup quarter-finals that led into the international break, with United not involved in either.

“The situation was a particular one: we had 2½ weeks until the next game after Atlético including an international break, which meant we only had six or seven players for training,” Rangnick said. “I don’t think it would have made sense [to train], although maybe for public perception it might have.”

Against Leicester on Saturday Harry Maguire is preparing to play for United for the first time since his substitution against Atlético was cheered by a section of fans and he was booed by England supporters at Wembley. Questioned about booing by England fans, and seemingly ignoring the incident against Atlético, he added: “I’m pretty sure it won’t happen in our stadium.”

– Guardian

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