sport news reveals his huge debt to new boss Ralf Rangnick 

sport news reveals his huge debt to new boss Ralf Rangnick 
sport news Thomas Tuchel reveals his huge debt to new Manchester United boss Ralf Rangnick 

Thomas Tuchel was working as a waiter in a cocktail bar when Ralf Rangnick picked him up, shook him up and turned him around and turned him into someone new.

And, with apologies to The Human League, if that all sounds far too sentimental to be true, too much of a neat coincidence to build up to Sunday's clash of Chelsea manager against new interim Manchester United manager, it is pretty much what happened, according to Tuchel.

He was an angry young man who felt betrayed by football as he waited tables at the Radio Bar in Stuttgart, a washed-up pro at 24 with a dodgy knee cartilage when Rangnick called him back into football as an apprentice youth coach.

Ralf Rangnick, Manchester United's new prospective interim manager, sees United face Chelsea on Sunday, a side managed by Thomas Tuchel, whom he helped get into management

Ralf Rangnick, Manchester United's new prospective interim manager, sees United face Chelsea on Sunday, a side managed by Thomas Tuchel, whom he helped get into management

All his life he had wanted to be a Bundesliga player, only to have the dream snatched away from him.

He had been playing for Rangnick at SSV Ulm in the German regional leagues when the knee injury ended his career. 

Just as he left, Ulm, led by Rangnick, became the fairy-tale of German football, rising through the leagues to reach the Bundesliga to play the likes of Bayern Munich.

Rangnick, then 40, was becoming a star but Tuchel could only reflect on what might have been as he studied for an economics degree at Stuttgart Business School and waited tables at Radio Bar.

'I saw my team-mates getting better and better under Ralf and making it to the first league (Bundesliga), which was always my dream,' said Tuchel last week, reflecting on the key role Rangnick played in his life.

Tuchel (right) sees veteran Rangnick as a tactical equal to the Premier League's best coaches

Tuchel (right) sees veteran Rangnick as a tactical equal to the Premier League's best coaches

'And this was my team and these were my team-mates. It was so close. It was the first time that I came so close to being maybe a first division player in the Bundesliga.

'When that happened, I was angry, actually. I was not depressed. I felt betrayed and was angry with the situation. I did not know what to do. All my life I dreamed to be a football player.

'Until that point, I had put all my energy and effort into this goal. I finished my school but this was my main target. When this was not a possibility any more, I needed to re-focus, which is not always easy.

'Telling the story now, it's easy to tell. But in

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