There is but one rule of thumb
when it comes to coaching and it is that great players don’t equal great
managers. Of course outliers like Zizou and Pep abound with every rule but
the fact underrated is that the best and brightest of managers we’ve seen were very crappy
players to say the least and the professor is no exception.
Ragnick had a short lived career
which ended at age 25 after being released by ULM 1846. This began his coaching
career as a player manager at Viktoria Backnang in 1983. Carl Jung popularly believed
that the subconscious is the key to our life pursuits however for the professor
the key to his footballing pursuits in terms of style is found in his
observations of Valery Lobanovskyi and Arrigo Sachi.
Lobanovskyi and Sachi are both impeccable
winners which doesn’t give much room for criticism of styles, Why? Because their styles work. Lobanovskyi won the Russian top
flight eight times in sixteen years and also made Kyiv the first soviet side to
win a European honor. In a friendly between Ragnick's team and Kyiv the
intensity of press and quality of play gave Ragnick an idea of what good football
looks like. In Die Manchaft’s Das Reboot, Ragnick described a feeling of being
under pressure during the entire 90 minutes and this is a replica model of his
current pressing system. From time to time the professor flew to watch this
dream team play and recalls it as the first time he saw real football.
Arrigo Sacchi was also an era defining
manager. Steering the world from a German dominated Libero role to a 4-4-2
system, Sacchi is arguably the greatest of his time. In Arigo Sacchi's Milan
side, we saw a manager who believed in total football, which simply means the
sum of the whole must be greater than any one individual. Nothing highlights this statement more than the billboard Italy made before Euro 96 which literally read "Italy's Goalkeeper, Easiest job in the Europe".
Axiomatically Maldini,Baressi and Costacuta made it look easy but my point is
Sacchi's team was efficient.
There is one thing fate hasn’t
added to the professor's CV and that is success. Success in it's self being a
subjective parameter might intrinsically tempt a lot of football fans to differ with me.
However the facts remain that the most impressive work done by the Professor
was steering a newly managed Hoffenheim side into the top flight, placing 7th
in the process, beating Borussia Dortmund 4-1 and getting Klopp to admit he
envies his style. In all of Ragnick's jobs as a manager he has been sacked
without a top flight trophy the closest being a promotion into the Bundesliga
This ill mannered repute however stops to rear its ugly head when we look at the
professor time at RB Leipzig. In Leipzig as a Sporting director, Ralf would
build one of the most efficient recruitment system that continues to produce and replace
top tier talents, for that the Professor stands out. Vindication dare I say.
It's December third and Ralph
Ragnick has officially received his work permit in the UK. Lest we should fear,
good omen has blessed the Professor with a spell of fixtures featuring mid
table and bottom tier clubs in a round of games the United faithful would
love to dream about. They say no man is
happy without a delusion of some kind but this time the red devils are
justified to expect a side as efficient as Liverpool or one as Compact as Chelsea
and yet every bit as magnificent in achievements because after all these
managers were inspired by Ragnick.
Ragnick mumbled, a little bit of
pressing is like a little bit of pregnancy, you are either pregnant or you are
not, either you want to play press or you don't. This is the statement that
defines the man. He likes to press, he believes in efficiency and above all he
holds on to solid principles.
He is an idealist who isn’t an
elitist. Underappreciated? Over appreciated? We might never be sure. One thing
is for sure though; Ragnick is good for United. Regardless of how this love
story ends the memories, I presume will never turn sour because this time Destiny is United’s friend!!
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