Ralf Rangnick has taken a lot less flak for his underwhelming record as manager than most of his predecessors. Granted, he came in when the mood around the club was at its worst, and the team didn’t look suited to playing his style. But a 37.9% win rate with this squad should be inexcusable. For Ralf, it wasn’t.

It must be remembered that when Ole left, a common sentiment was that this was the best squad a manager would inherit since Sir Alex left. However, the opposite has turned out to be true. Fans are now baying for blood, wanting more than half of the squad to be shown the door. What happened?

Ralf Rangnick happened. After praising the team for the first few good results, he became blunter in his assessments. Rarely was it his fault that a team constructed after spending billions was unable to beat relegation-threatened teams. He has recently started accepting that he didn’t do much good either, but everyone had accepted a long time ago that this season is a write-off.

When Ralf took over, United were prime contenders for Top-4. Had Rangnick remained just the manager during his time, the season wasn’t a write-off. Unfortunately for United, he looked a bit too keen on the transition to a consultant while still being manager.

The cultural reset is underway, and Rangnick is to be credited for that. It could just have started from a less toxic place, and Rangnick is culpable for that too.