3. Ralf Rangnick
It took a change of manager to complete Cardiff's Premier League project. German coach Rangnick, 55, took Hoffenheim from nowhere to the Bundesliga and kept them there, and had success in cup competitions with Schalke either side of that. He has been regularly linked with Premier League positions in recent years. Currently a sporting director for Red Bull's football franchises in Salzburg and Leipzig, R
angnick has topped a fans' poll to take over from Steve Clarke at West Bromwich Albion. What a coup it would be then if the Bluebirds stole a popular choice from under the noses of their relegation rivals the Baggies? If either vacancy interests him, Rangnick must be prepared to work with what is already on the books in Cardiff or the West Midlands. Neither chairman is pledging any money when the winter window opens. He has always spent, particularly when he built Hoffenheim up. Rangnick has what appears to be a rather cushy job at present. There are none of the usual pressures that are part of the territory in the dugout as a sporting director. Moreover, he
quit Schalke in 2011 on health grounds, citing exhaustion. The Premier League is not for the fainthearted.