Man Utd stars gave brutal nickname for Ralf Rangnick behind his back

Ralf Rangnick was reportedly given the brutal nickname 'Specs' by some of Manchester United's stars who celebrated his departure.

The German succeeded Ole Gunnar Solskjaer at the Red Devils helm following the Norwegian's November sacking, taking over on an interim basis until the end of the season. Rangnick initially agreed to move into a consultancy role at the club come the end of the season, however a catastrophic tenure has seen the 52-year-old leave for good.

He will now give his undivided attention to the Austrian national team having agreed to take up the country's managerial post at the end of April. It appears his presence at Old Trafford won't be missed though, as many of United's playing squad are understood to be glad to see the back of their temporary boss who they brutally branded 'Specs'.

According to Manchester Evening News, many at United gave Rangnick the malicious moniker and mocked the German's CV, such was the disdain for the interim manager. A source revealed no one at the club approved of his unfiltered honesty which often saw him openly slate his side's struggles when speaking with the media.

United's players are believed to have also disapproved of the German's methods, with one member of the squad said to have described the manager's approach as "dropping bombs – especially after he suggested the club required open-heart surgery in order to rediscover success. Speaking back in April, Rangnick said: “You don’t even need glasses to see and analyse where the problems are.

“Now it’s about how do we solve them? It’s not enough to do some minor amendments – cosmetic things. In medicine you would say that this is an operation of the open heart.

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"If this happens and everyone has realised that this has to happen and if people want to work together then it makes sense and I believe it doesn’t take two or three years to change those things. This can happen within one year. For sure [strong leadership is needed]."

Prior to Rangnick's Old Trafford exit earlier this week, new manager Erik ten Hag hinted that was in no hurry to consult the German, implying that he too would be better off without him. The Dutchman said: “I analyse by myself.

"I observe and I speak with a lot of people. But I will draw my own line." When probed on Rangnick's new role at United, the 52-year-old added: “That is for the club”.

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