Moderniser Rangnick aims to drag Manchester United out of the past

The interim manager wants ‘to celebrate the DNA’ of the club but will not copy Solskjær in trying to revive Ferguson’s ethos

Even as Ralf Rangnick set his sights on shifting Manchester United’s focus from their past to the future, he began with a journey into his own history. His has been an unconventional route to Old Trafford but the interim manager recalled his impromptu role as Jürgen Klopp’s unofficial agent, a failed attempt to hire Thomas Tuchel for a second time and the day he went to scout Callum Hudson-Odoi and came away determined to sign Jadon Sancho.

The “godfather of gegenpressing”, as Rangnick has been christened, is keen to arrange a dinner with the godfather of United. Yet his new job is no nostalgia trip for a manager who faced Sir Alex Ferguson with Schalke in the 2011 Champions League semi-finals. Whereas Ole Gunnar Solskjær seemed to be in a 1990s re-enactment society, Rangnick is positioning himself as United’s ambitious moderniser. Rewind decades and that description applied to Sir Matt Busby and then Ferguson, the men who forged United before becoming anachronisms in the 2020s.

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