Angel Rangel is a Swansea legend.\u00a0 He is one of those players that the word was invented for and, having had the pleasure of meeting him on multiple occasions, he is one of the nicest most unassuming players that you could meet.\u00a0 A humble man from humble surroundings who always kept his feet firmly on the ground.<\/p>\n
There are many tipping Rangel for a return to Swansea at some stage in a coaching capacity and it certainly isn’t a concept that should be dismissed out of hand providing he is the right man for the job which he quite probably could be.<\/p>\n
But it could have been so different for the man who paid two thirds of his own transfer fee and only ended up at Swansea thanks to a delayed flight and a good performance in a game where Roberto Martinez was watching a different player.<\/p>\n
A quick word from the then Swans boss saw him swap thirty five degree heat for the wind and rain that we all know Swansea so well for and within five years he was a Premier League player, a League cup winner and captaining the Swans in Valencia, a club not too far from one of his homes in his younger years.<\/p>\n
This starts to feel a little like a Roy of the Rovers type story as you talk about a player plucked from nowhere for a price less than almost every Premier League player will earn in a week and turned into one of the most reliable players that you could ever wish to play for your team.<\/p>\n
![\"\"](\"https:\/\/staging28.planetswans.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Angel-Rangel-Valencia.jpg\")
Over 370 games appearances for the Swans in an eleven year period it gets you slightly annoyed as to the nature of his departure that he believes would have been handled better under the stewardship of Huw Jenkins but he has moved on and I guess so could we remembering the good times of which Angel gave us plenty.<\/p>\n
Promotions from League One and the Championship, a League Cup triumph in 2013 and a European campaign to follow and some of the best football we have ever played under Roberto, Brendan Rodgers and Michael Laudrup.\u00a0 \u00a0Rangel himself acknowledges it started to go wrong with the appointment of his former captain Garry Monk who changed the philosophy and the rest is just a history that eventually saw us drop from the Premier League after a seven year stay!<\/p>\n
It was an interesting read to see what a Swansea legend had to say when he was speaking to the excellent QPR site\u00a0LoftForWords\u00a0<\/em>and lifting the lid on his time at Swansea and the subsequent spell at QPR which followed.<\/p>\n He talked about Roberto’s expansive football but described Brendan Rodgers as the “perfect fit” as he talked about our promotion winning season ten years ago – over to Rangel himself – “He found a very strong core of players at Swansea who knew who to play Roberto\u2019s way and Paolo\u2019s way, but he definitely brought his own style and recruitment as well – he bought players that fitted the \u2018Swansea way\u2019, Scott Sinclair scored 20 goals that season. He really develops players, he makes good players top players, and you\u2019ve seen that at Leicester, Liverpool, everywhere he\u2019s been. He mastered what was already there, we\u2019d played both sides of the game and he created his own style with a core of players craving to learn and improve their game. He was the perfect fit.<\/em>”<\/p>\n “Winning the League Cup, a major trophy, the only one we had won, was a big, big deal. For me, playing in Europe, four or five years prior when I signed for Swansea that was unthinkable. I remember we went to Valencia in the Europa League, September time, I\u2019d lived about an hour from Valencia when I was younger, and we beat them 3-0 at the Mestalla, I was captain for the first time and I had my whole family and friends at the stadium, it was a beautiful day, 30 degrees, all the Swansea fans\u2026 that\u2019s up there. I still have the shirt from that day on the wall behind me here from that game, alongside my QPR one. It\u2019s a big memory for me that day<\/em>.<\/p>\n “To win a major trophy and play in Europe is another level again. There are so many paths to make it in football, you could come through an academy to the first team, you could be transferred from one team to another, you could be promoted with your own team which was my path. Playing part time, semi-professionally, gave me the values of hard work, consistency, day in day out, and a hope that I would make it. If not, you have to know at least you gave it everything. I was lucky.<\/em>”<\/p>\n All good things must eventually come to an end and for Rangel and Swansea that happened in 2018 when he was told that he wouldn’t get a new contract.\u00a0 It came at a tough time for the Swans, relegation from the Premier League was tough and the fall out from the ownership change was still fresh and tensions were running high off the pitch with things on the pitch having deteriorated over a number of bad transfer decisions and managerial changes.<\/p>\n “I was told I wouldn\u2019t get a new contract. My game time had been limited for two seasons compared to the previous eight. I was getting, in some ways, old, and they wanted new players so I wasn\u2019t getting a contract. They wanted me to go to DC United instead because it was the same owners. That never happened because in the MLS you have one so-called \u2018designated player\u2019 per team and they signed Wayne Rooney. Rangel or Rooney? I believe he sold more tops than I would have done. So that didn\u2019t happen. It was sad, I had a farewell at Swansea and there I was at 34, I\u2019d hardly played that season and I had a summer that was a nightmare because I wanted to know what was next and nothing came about for two or three months.<\/em><\/p>\n \u00a0I believe I wasn\u2019t treated the way I deserved. If Huw Jenkins had been in charge it would have been completely different, he was a good friend after working together for so long and I didn\u2019t have that relationship with the new owners, they weren\u2019t around Swansea very much and it was difficult to build that contact and relationship. It felt a bit unfair.<\/em>”<\/p>\n Rangel admits that coaching is an aim of his which may make the ears prick up of those in charge at Swansea but first he wants to spend some time with his family “for the remainder of this year.<\/p>\n “I think coaching will be my thing, but everybody says I\u2019ll be a better manager than a coach so I don\u2019t know. I\u2019d have to find my feet and see what I\u2019m better at. I\u2019ve played the game for many years but it\u2019s one thing playing the game and another managing it. It\u2019s completely different, how you get your message across, the methods. I believe as a coach I\u2019d be able to use my knowledge better, as a manager I\u2019ve never been a boss of anything so I don\u2019t know what that will be like.<\/em>”<\/p>\n There is a chance that you could have just been reading the words of a future Swansea coach or boss but whatever way you look at it you have been reading the words of a Swansea legend and I will always be grateful for that delayed flight, a twist of fate that bought Rangel to Swansea and helped create so many memories that we will never forget.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/staging28.planetswans.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Angel-Rangel-4.jpg\")
As the Swans prepare for another stab at the play offs starting on Monday evening at Barnsley it is somewhat fitting that we can look back with misty eyes to the memories of ten years ago and the superb few years that followed – years that may never be repeated again.<\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/staging28.planetswans.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/05\/Angel-Rangel-3.jpg\")
“I will look to get back into football, into coaching. I\u2019ve done a few badges but I haven\u2019t got all the licenses. I want to get that done and then I want to travel a bit and visit managers I\u2019ve worked under \u2013 Brendan and others \u2013 to learn from them, different methods, to help me create my own identity. Then I\u2019ll see what comes next for me, coaching, young kids, first teams, I\u2019ll have to see. I have to be on the grass. The thing I miss the most at the moment is being out on the grass and using my brain football wise, I\u2019m not doing it at the moment and it\u2019s what I\u2019ve done all my life.<\/em><\/p>\n