London (PA Media/dpa) – Ralf Rangnick has been appointed as Manchester United’s interim manager to become the sixth German to coach in the Premier League.
Here, the PA news agency looks at the mixed record of the previous five, with success for Juergen Klopp and Thomas Tuchel but little else to get excited about.
Felix Magath
12 matches, won 3, drew 3, lost 6; win percentage 25.0
Arriving having won Bundesliga titles with both Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg, Magath was brought in to save Fulham from relegation in February 2014. Twelve matches and 12 points later, they were down and he was sacked in September of the Championship (second tier) season which followed.
Juergen Klopp
233 matches, won 146, drawn 54, lost 33; win percentage 62.7
The league’s second German appointment was significantly more successful than its first, with former Borussia Dortmund boss Klopp leading the Reds to Champions League glory in 2019 and a first league title of the Premier League era the following year – in the process becoming FIFA’s two-time reigning Best men’s coach of the year. His side’s battle with Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City has defined the recent years of the Premier League.
Daniel Farke
49 matches, won 6, drew 8, lost 35; win percentage 12.2
Klopp’s success brought attention to his former assistants at Dortmund, with Farke following former United States international David Wagner to England. He twice took Norwich into the top flight but was unable to sustain his success once they got there, finishing bottom of the 2019-20 table with just 21 points and leaving them in the same position this term when he was sacked despite sealing a first win of the campaign at Brentford the same day.
Jan Siewert
15 matches, won 1, drew 2, lost 12; win percentage 6.7
Wagner’s successor at Huddersfield saw out the 2018-19 relegation season in a spell memorable less for its sole win, against Wolves, and five points than for the comical misunderstanding that saw lookalike Terriers fan «Martin from Wakefield» mistaken for the new boss upon his arrival.
Thomas Tuchel
32 matches, won 20, drawn 8, lost 4; win percentage 62.5
The only German manager to so far rival Klopp’s success, and another off the Dortmund production line via a spell at Paris St Germain, Tuchel succeeded Frank Lampard in January and the immediate improvements he made – particularly to the Blues’ defensive record – yielded the Champions League and an FA Cup final appearance within five months. They lead the Premier League by a point this season as they battle City and Liverpool for further silverware.
Rangnick joins Tuchel and Klopp in arriving into one of the «big six» clubs, with those two managers having combined for 166 wins from 265 games – compared to 10 from 76 for managers at other clubs. United will be hoping that pattern holds true if they are to bridge the five-point gap to the Champions League places.