Ruud van Nistelrooy’s impact as a manager at Man Utd explained: A legendary striker’s passion and skill can make all the difference | Football News

Looking forward to saying goodbye to the Stretford End on Friday night. Ruud van Nistelrooy is back at Old Trafford.

That posed a threat to opposing defences during his five seasons as a Manchester United player at the start of this century. Now fans are wondering what he could mean for the club as he returns as part of Erik ten Hag’s new coaching staff.

Despite his 150 goals, there was a time when Van Nistelrooy would have been among the most unlikely former favourites to take on such a role. His departure in 2006 was acrimonious, his relationship with Sir Alex Ferguson having disintegrated.

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For much of his playing career, there was a reputation for determination that didn’t necessarily mesh with a managerial career. Gary Neville even admitted that, despite all the goals, he wondered whether his style suited what United needed at the time.

Rio Ferdinand recalls returning to the Manchester United dressing room after a win to see Van Nistelrooy’s pained expression when he discovered that Thierry Henry, his long-time rival for the Golden Boot, had also scored that afternoon.

But while he is still focused on his goals, Van Nistelrooy is now a different animal. Javier Rabanal, the Spaniard who was his assistant at PSV when he led the club to two trophies, regards him as not only a great player but also a hugely impressive coach.

“We had a fantastic relationship,” Rabanal says. Vscek“He’s a really humble guy, easy to work with, and I learned a lot from him. In fact, he was someone who completely changed my perspective on what professional football is in a way.”

He explains: “When it comes to tactical knowledge of the game, most of the best football coaches have a similar level of understanding. The difference with Ruud was his passion and his ability to communicate his feelings about football to the group.

“He is a person who knows how to connect with people. It doesn’t matter if it’s a young player taking his first steps or a player in his later years. I remember the passion with which he spoke before big games like the cup final we won against Ajax. He is different.”

There is a temptation to see Van Nistelrooy as a figurehead, his appointment an easy win given his popularity among supporters. But Tom Heaton has already spoken of the exceptional quality of his opening meetings, the level of detail in his analytical work.

As Rabanal points out, this is a calling for the now bespectacled Van Nistelrooy. “You have to have that passion because his life is already settled after the career he had as a player. If he’s doing this job, it’s because he loves coaching,” he says.

“This is not a typical former professional player who still thinks about his playing days. He is really focused on his coaching career. He loves being in the sessions. Probably too much! He wants to be involved in every exercise. He can’t stay away from the field.

“He wants to have that contact with the players every day on the pitch, every training session. For me, that’s a strength because he has that mix of former player and professional coach. He has both perspectives. That makes him a different type of coach.”

Van Nistelrooy began to change toward the end of his playing career. Four years after leaving United, he called Ferguson to apologise for his attitude. In those final seasons, he embraced his role as a mentor to the strikers he would once have seen as rivals.

Heung-Min Son, probably the best finisher in the Premier League, was a teammate at Hamburg. Van Nistelrooy supported him. “He helped me a lot. He saw my first training session and spoke to me. He gave me confidence and I want to thank him.”

In Malaga, he really began to think about how he could influence those around him and began to contemplate a coaching career. Salomon Rondon described Van Nistelrooy as “a magnificent example”, while Juanmi, then 19, went on to play for Spain.

As PSV coach, he helped develop Cody Gakpo. Speaking to Noni Madueke, another of Van Nistelrooy’s young protégés, he was clearly impressed by the aura. “Everyone respects him a lot for what he has done in the game,” he said. Vscek.

“The players will definitely appreciate him because he is such an important player. I think tactically he has some good ideas as a coach too. He is a legend in the game, so it was an honor to work with him. He helped me a lot with my attacking game. And he is still a great finisher.”

Watch videos of Van Nistelrooy at his best and his finishing ability is astonishing. A master inside the box, it is evident how many goals seem simple, but only because the first touch got him out of trouble. The second finds the back of the net.

Can United’s strikers learn from this? “I have no doubt,” said Ten Hag Vscek recently. “He’s scored so many goals, so he’ll definitely help the strikers in different areas and definitely mentally, bringing with him his desire to win and score goals.”

Marcus Rashford is said to have once taken offence at Steve McClaren’s attempts to cajole him during a five-a-side game in training. McClaren told him he was the man to score the winning goal, but the player urged him not to put so much pressure on him.

McClaren, who had worked with strikers such as Dwight Yorke and Andy Cole in his first spell at the club, as well as Alen Boksic and Mark Viduka elsewhere, is known to have been shocked by the reaction, as he had intended his joking remarks to be inspirational.

Perhaps Van Nistelrooy will find a more receptive audience. Many saw him rise from his seat to cheer on Rashford after a near-miss during the Community Shield at Wembley. But Rabanal is keen to stress that this is more than just a striker coach.

It is not just the goals he has scored in his career that make the difference, but also his ability to convey the way he scored them.

“I doubt that Erik ten Hag hired the former PSV coach just to work with the strikers. He has much more to offer to every player in every position. But, of course, we had double sessions and the afternoon session would be focused on finishing.

“It’s not just the goals he scored in his career, it’s his ability to convey how he did it, that feeling of being inside the penalty area, how to attack, how to step back from the centre-back, how to find that space, how to prepare the position of the leg to shoot.”

At PSV, Van Nistelrooy and his team lost the Eredivisie title to Arne Slot’s Feyenoord, but still took four points from their two head-to-heads. Rabanal believes they helped sow the seeds for their successor to reorganise Slot’s team last time out.

“They had an incredible season with Peter Bosz and he deserves credit. But I’m sure we changed the mentality a little bit. Peter didn’t start from scratch. We worked a lot there to get the players in the right frame of mind to help him win that title again.”

With Rene Hake and Andreas Georgson on board, both top coaches in Europe last season, Ten Hag has assembled an impressive roster of head coaches to support him. “These coaches will help us,” says Rabanal.

“They can do a lot to help Manchester United get back to the top, to the top, to the highest level, where they want to be, challenging for titles.” None more than the legendary striker who has reinvented himself as a caring coach, eager to make a difference for his team.

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