Then there is the fundamental cowardice of hedging a managerial appointment in an industry where everything is interim. Steven Gerrard is interim Aston Villa manager until Liverpool want him. Phil Foden is interim Manchester City centre forward until Erling Haaland arrives. Nuno Espirito Santo was interim Tottenham coach until his interim replacement Antonio Conte could do a stint. The only real difference is in the size of the payout if it all goes wrong.
Rangnick seems to be suffering especially under the innate constraints presented to him. His results so far have been fair, the performances more concerning. The vaunted high press looks like a malicious rumour spread by mischievous Bundesliga fans. The overall vibe has gone from Solskjaer’s doomed tragic Abba song, the end of the romance of a lifetime, to a joyless visa marriage.
Most worrying and least likely to change is the sense that players have a licence to misbehave, like schoolchildren smelling blood from a supply teacher. Theirs is an easy job in theory: show up, put a video on, then leave never to be seen again and with your evenings untroubled by marking. Unfortunately the Premier League is a permanent Ofsted inspection. The leadership vacuum is so stark that United fans have unveiled a banner with moody pictures of former heroes and the word “Standards” on it, like a stern poster on a classroom wall about the dangers of sniffing glue.
In the transient world of football the only thing with a degree of permanence is ownership. The league is split into financial haves and have lots, but the biggest difference might be clubs with a cogent plan and those without. Manchester City have spent senseless sums of money with dead-eyed efficiency. Southampton have an identifiable style and rarely look troubled by relegation. Even at perma-crisis Arsenal a younger core is emerging and things seem to be heading in the right direction, until the next unexpected defeat.
United meanwhile lurch from one nonsense to the next. See also Everton, themselves considering an interim dalliance with old flame Roberto Martinez. There is no discernible upside to the concept of these stopgap managers.
Perhaps United are marking time before Mauricio Pochettino becomes available, but what if he is the sixth manager in succession to fail to tame United’s lucrative chaos tsunami? What then? Another interim? Just what is the plan here?
