Former Kaizer Chiefs defender Bradley Carnell during his time as head coach of Major League Soccer side St. Louis City FILE - Former Kaizer Chiefs defender Bradley Carnell during his time as head coach of Major League Soccer side St. Louis City. Photo: Dilip Vishwanat/Getty Images/AFP
Former Kaizer Chiefs and Bafana Bafana defender Bradley Carnell has revealed he nearly joined the Manchester United coaching staff during Ralf Rangnick’s tenure as interim manager.
During the 2021/22 season, Rangnick was appointed by Manchester United on an interim basis following the sacking of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.
After Solskjaer was fired, the club embarked on a six-month recruitment process that would eventually hand over the reigns to Dutchman Erik ten Hag, who was himself given the boot earlier this week.
For those six months, German Rangnick was put in charge, and he immediately sought to bring in coaches to work with him.
One coach who was contacted was Bradley Carnell, who was at the time in the process of building the Major League Soccer expansion team St. Louis City SC in the United States.
Speaking to FARPost about the offer from Rangnick to join United, Carnell said: “All his coaches at that time were tied up in long-standing contracts, and I was just joining Saint Louis, so I had just signed the contract as well.
“I wasn’t technically working in that first few months of 2022, so from that point of view, it would have been a very possible scenario.”
The two first worked together in 1999 when Rangnick joined VfB Stuttgart, where Carnell was playing at the time, as head coach.
“Playing under Ralf Rangnick meant he supported and developed young players,” Carnell said.
“Being very young in Germany, knowing that I would get a chance to play was a significant boost. He worked really hard, and that was important to me.”
Their paths crossed again when Rangnick was director of football at RB Leipzig, and Carnell was assistant coach at Red Bull New York.
“We stayed in touch, and he’s kind of the godfather of the Red Bull soccer game globally. It was great to be in the same building as him occasionally and exchange ideas.”
IOL Sport