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FA interested in Ralf Rangnick: Five things about the man on England's shortlist

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• published: 30 Sep 2016
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FA interested in Ralf Rangnick: Five things about the man on England's shortlist. FA interested in Ralf Rangnick: Five things about the man on England's shortlist The FA is keen to speak to Ralf Rangnick about the vacant England manager's job, but what do we know about the German? The 58-year-old is currently sporting director at Bundesliga club Red Bull Leipzig and was interviewed by the FA at Wembley following the departure of Roy Hodgson after Euro 2016. Here's some of what we know about fluent English speaker Rangnick... Like Arsene Wenger and Jose Mourinho, Rangnick's playing career took a back seat as he focused on coaching. He was a defensive midfielder in the lower leagues for Stuttgart's amateur sides, playing for a number of other lower league clubs afterwards. He didn't progress much further than that, but Rangnick did spend some time playing in England in the late 1970s. While at Stuttgart University studying English and PE, he spent a guest year at Sussex University, taking in English football on a regular basis. He told the Daily Mail in 2011: "I'd see either Arsenal or Tottenham usually. But Brighton and Hove Albion were in the First Division then so I'd go to the old Goldstone Ground. It was one of the best years of my life." Rangnick started coaching in the early 1980s with Ulm 1846's youth team, before player/coach stints across the German lower leagues. After retiring from playing, he became a coach at SC Korb in 1988, and then amateur coach at Stuttgart two years later, where he stayed for four years. His first proper management job came at fourth-tier SSV Reutlingen, where he was successful before another joyous stint at Ulm. He then got his first Bundesliga chance as boss at Stuttgart, where he stayed for two years before being sacked in February 2001. Promotion from the second tier at Hannover came next, but after a season-and-a-half in the top flight, Rangnick was sacked again in 2004. Still with us? Good. Rangnick's career has had some ups and downs. His tour of German football then took him to Schalke, where he replaced Jupp Heynckes in September 2004, losing in the German Cup final to Bayern in his first season and finishing second. Again, Rangnick's merciless owners reacted to a poor start to the 2005/06 campaign by chopping him in December, leading him to third-tier Hoffenheim, where he enjoyed his most successful spell. He led them to back-to-back promotions and a seventh-place Bundesliga finish, but he left the side under a cloud in 2011 after the club sold Luiz Gustavo to Bayern Munich "behind his back". Rangnick was then back at Schalke as Felix Magath's replacement, leading them to the semi-final of the Champions League with a two-legged victory over Inter, before defeat by Manchester United in the last four. Then, four months after winning the German Cup with Schalke, he stepped down citing exhaustion, but was back in football in June 2012 as sporting director of Red Bull Salzburg and Red Bull Leipzig. After Leipzig failed to find a new manager in the summer of 2015, Rangnick was given the nod, leading them to promotion to the Bundesliga by finishing second. Certainly a German journeyman, Rangnick has had undoubted success throughout more than 30 years in coaching, but his lack of experience at the very top is a concern. Rangnick, who signed a 19-year-old Roberto Firmino for Hoffenheim from Brazilian side Figueirense in 2011, has claimed he turned down the opportunity to sign Jamie Vardy in 2014 because he considered the Leicester forward to be too old. Rangnick, Red Bull Leipzig sporting director at the time, told Sport Bild last year: "In the plane, the agent said to me 'Mr Rangnick, it's a crying shame that you are so radical about who you sign and only go for players who are under 24 because I've got somebody who would be just perfect for you. I can guarantee he would become a national team player under you, but he's already 27'. "It was Jamie Vardy." Rangnick...