It was Groundhog Day last week when ESPN published a report which claimed Manchester United’s players were unhappy with Ralf Rangnick’s training methods.
The training sessions were claimed to be old fashioned, and American assistant Chris Armas nicknamed Ted Lasso by the players.
United supporters had little sympathy for player complaints when this report was published. It was particularly disappointing to see Rangnick asked about it in his Friday press conference.
The players followed this up with a dour 1-1 performance at the weekend, which has further shone the spotlight back onto them.
Former star Gary Neville laid into the players on Sky Sports, criticising the leaks. He said: “I didn’t find it funny at all. I thought it was disrespectful. I thought it was disgusting in fact.”
Neville added that he wanted the leaks to stop, threatening that he will expose the players and their agents who have fed information to the media.
He said: “There are agents, people around who try to protect their player, but what they do not realise is that when they talk to the media, they talk to us, so we know who is briefing them.”
It has got to stop
The leaks to the media have been embarrassing and damaging to United all season, probably coming from players who are disgruntled at a lack of game time.
They begun under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer and have continued under Rangnick, and all they serve to do is make supporters angry.
The media are invested in creating a crisis at United, and the players and agents leaking information are feeding them what they want.
We did not even cover the leaks on Friday on this website because we did not want to give them the air of publicity at the time. They were designed to get fans riled up and they have done so.
Neville is right to call them out, and the language he used to do so are spot on. They are disrespectful to Ralf Rangnick and his staff, who are genuinely trying to help the players become better, and turn United into a more organised team.
If they continue and Neville names and shames the sources of the leaks, as he suggested may be prepared to, there will be a ruthless reaction from supporters towards the source.
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