Not my favourite United manager but absolutely not my worst either.
And he isn't telling us what we didn't already know.
And he isn't telling us what we didn't already know.
Louis van Gaal's interview with BBC
- Thread starter Paxi
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik (@Rood) is joined by CEO Duncan Drasdo and Financial Director Andy Green from the Manchester United Supporters Trust for a special episode on all things behind the scenes at Old Trafford including a brief history of MUST and their aims today, views on INEOS and Sir Jim Ratcliffe so far, and the Old Trafford regeneration.
That's also true - the buck does stop with him. He is pointing out that we have problems in that area which we do and to be fair, nothing we didn't already know.
Says our structure isn't bad but Woodward needs someone with football knowledge I guess to support him. At the moment Matt Judd? does the negotiating but this guy is from a banking background. Notwithstanding he seems terrible with negotiating as well.
So important for us to get a technical director or whatever you call them.
Otherwise, hope LVG enjoys his retirement. He's a good man.
So important for us to get a technical director or whatever you call them.
Otherwise, hope LVG enjoys his retirement. He's a good man.
That’s the reason we have drifted off from the elite football scene. We have figured out how to make money but not really succeed football wise. Thanks Ed and co but we need to actually play football now
In fairness to Van Gaal, it's impossible to expect a manager, any manager, to have a clue who, for example, the best 5 available right backs in Europe at any given time are.
That's why clubs appoint directors of football. Coaching and preparing for matches is a full-time business - you need someone else to pick up the slack regarding player recruitment.
This is why ole will get the job, he's going to come cheaper than the other Runner Poch?
Money has always been main aim for the Glazers, they want and need top football to keep the money coming in, the players they brought in for big money have a big commercial value for the club as well. Can see a big money signing in summer with commercial benefits to the Glazers. My shout is Bale.
Money has always been main aim for the Glazers, they want and need top football to keep the money coming in, the players they brought in for big money have a big commercial value for the club as well. Can see a big money signing in summer with commercial benefits to the Glazers. My shout is Bale.
Ferguson was a Glazer stooge, admirably toeing the party line to ensure the club didn’t fall apart (on the field) due to the debt repayments. I’m praising him here, to confirm.
Ferguson didn’t believe in ‘value in the market’ any more than most of us. He never did under Martin Edwards and he only started barking on about it when the Glazers tightened the purse and were happy to replace players like Ronaldo with Valencia - no slight on Tony, of course.
This started under Gill and the only reason we didn’t struggle then was because Ferguson was in charge of first team.
These kind of interviews are just dull. They repeat the same known issues but the managers just absolve themselves of any blame and actually come across prettydeluded and out of touch.
Now he’s retired it would be interesting to hear him talk about mistakes he made, things he wished he’d done differently etc rather than same old nonsense.
Moyes is the same, he was a disaster, sacked after 9-10 months yet claims he wouldn’t do anything differently.
Now he’s retired it would be interesting to hear him talk about mistakes he made, things he wished he’d done differently etc rather than same old nonsense.
Moyes is the same, he was a disaster, sacked after 9-10 months yet claims he wouldn’t do anything differently.
He was a man with principles, albeit shit ones.
Throwing shade at Solskjaer and Scholes...
Disrespecting someone in the class of 92 etc etc
Disrespecting someone in the class of 92 etc etc
Some of you here are downplaying his overall legacy.
Just a few of the players who were given a debut by him:
Kluivert, Iniesta, Seedorf, Davids, Alaba, Xavi, T. Muller...
Turning Schweinsteiger from a mediocre winger into one of the best CMs of his generation.
He's had great succes with Ajax,
His first period at Barcelona,
Made AZ of all teams Dutch champion, for the first time in 27 years a team not named Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV became Dutch champion,
Ended the mediocre period of Bayern and laid the foundation of the monstrous team they were in the past decade.
Bronze medal with a very poor Dutch national team.
He's one of the best managers of his generation.
And whilst his transfers were clearly not a succes over here, with the material he had at his disposal, I actually think he did a good job.
His squad was too thin, but he always had a relatively thin squad to promote youth.
So yes, when we had an injury crisis, we were playing terrible football, but the results were really not that bad taking into account the circumstances.
Just a few of the players who were given a debut by him:
Kluivert, Iniesta, Seedorf, Davids, Alaba, Xavi, T. Muller...
Turning Schweinsteiger from a mediocre winger into one of the best CMs of his generation.
He's had great succes with Ajax,
His first period at Barcelona,
Made AZ of all teams Dutch champion, for the first time in 27 years a team not named Ajax, Feyenoord or PSV became Dutch champion,
Ended the mediocre period of Bayern and laid the foundation of the monstrous team they were in the past decade.
Bronze medal with a very poor Dutch national team.
He's one of the best managers of his generation.
And whilst his transfers were clearly not a succes over here, with the material he had at his disposal, I actually think he did a good job.
His squad was too thin, but he always had a relatively thin squad to promote youth.
So yes, when we had an injury crisis, we were playing terrible football, but the results were really not that bad taking into account the circumstances.
Loved LVG. Shame about the football. Too stubborn to admit his philosophy was about 2/3 years out of date.
His comments on Solskjaer are very unfair.
Making out like we park the bus on a regular basis is nonsense, as is suggesting it’s the same approach as Mourinho. Any fool can see it’s not so someone of Van Gaal’s leave should be able to. My guess is he doesn’t watch us much.
Van Gaal has an esteemed career but his tenure at United was largely a failure and the football in his second season was awful, worse than Mourinho’s. He was just less of a hateful prick.
He did however do a lot wrong beyond bad football. He treated certain talented players like dirt eg. Luke Shaw, Herrera, Januzaj, Pereira, and wasn’t shy about throwing them under the bus or humiliating them in other ways eg his reaction to Chicha’s penalty miss.
From the sounds of it he had completely alienated most of our team, including stars like De Gea. Pogba would have hated him.
He made awful signings for the most part and built our entire attack around a Wayne Rooney who was years past his sell by date.
He dished out a lot of debuts but aside from Lingard and Rashford most shouldn’t have been anywhere near a United team eg. Blackett, McNair. The ones with actual talent were fecked off eg. Januzaj/Pereira.
He seems like a decent enough bloke but he had clearly lost his eye for talent, fallen behind tactically and was cursed by a complete lack of self awareness and stubbornness which was his ultimate undoing.
Making out like we park the bus on a regular basis is nonsense, as is suggesting it’s the same approach as Mourinho. Any fool can see it’s not so someone of Van Gaal’s leave should be able to. My guess is he doesn’t watch us much.
Van Gaal has an esteemed career but his tenure at United was largely a failure and the football in his second season was awful, worse than Mourinho’s. He was just less of a hateful prick.
He did however do a lot wrong beyond bad football. He treated certain talented players like dirt eg. Luke Shaw, Herrera, Januzaj, Pereira, and wasn’t shy about throwing them under the bus or humiliating them in other ways eg his reaction to Chicha’s penalty miss.
From the sounds of it he had completely alienated most of our team, including stars like De Gea. Pogba would have hated him.
He made awful signings for the most part and built our entire attack around a Wayne Rooney who was years past his sell by date.
He dished out a lot of debuts but aside from Lingard and Rashford most shouldn’t have been anywhere near a United team eg. Blackett, McNair. The ones with actual talent were fecked off eg. Januzaj/Pereira.
He seems like a decent enough bloke but he had clearly lost his eye for talent, fallen behind tactically and was cursed by a complete lack of self awareness and stubbornness which was his ultimate undoing.
I liked this guy through his whole career and i was very happy when we hired him. He was world class manager and will be remembered as one of the best in history. Not just because he won many titles, he built teams, promoted many future world class players and especially that Ajax team. That was masterpiece.
Imo, in United, he did good job. Put us back in CL, won FA cup and promoted some players. But yes, football from second season was boring to watch.
Maybe if he had better players....who knows? He was the man who played nice, attacking football through whole his career. Except in United. That thing still bugs me.
Anyway, i am glad that he was our manager.
Imo, in United, he did good job. Put us back in CL, won FA cup and promoted some players. But yes, football from second season was boring to watch.
Maybe if he had better players....who knows? He was the man who played nice, attacking football through whole his career. Except in United. That thing still bugs me.
Anyway, i am glad that he was our manager.
He’s right on the money there.
A bit unfair. His youth-first policy ensured a direct positive to this day with Rashford.
Other stuff... yeah fair enough.
Seems like most of the journos have respect for him on a personal level.
That's pretty much spot on.
All very true, and refreshing to see someone acknowledging it, rather than allowing Fergie's legacy to whitewash any negatives.
His refusal to use his power to pressure the Glazers into loosening the purse strings - post Ronaldo - was both mystifying and infuriating. Only his undoubted genius kept the wheels on for a while.
his best moment was getting pissed up at the end of season awards
LVG seems like a great guy outside of football. I loved his enthusiasm for Wing’s. I didn’t like the way he was sacked and I felt he redeemed himself a bit after Rashford broke onto the scene. Rashford, Lingard and Martial all flourished under him and they’re arguably our best front three. LVG always seems to be at his best working with younger players and is maybe too stubborn with the marquee/established names.
Interesting how it’s the second time he’s brought up that the people who run Utd run it like a business rather than a competitive sports club, as well as saying Sir Alex had problems with the way it’s run.
Interesting how it’s the second time he’s brought up that the people who run Utd run it like a business rather than a competitive sports club, as well as saying Sir Alex had problems with the way it’s run.
Not sure he’s right about Ole. There’s been plenty of games under him where we’ve played constantly looking to attack and there were plenty of games under Ferguson where we looked to counter attack. To say Ole parks the bus and Ferguson was attacking is pure nonsense.
People need to stop forgetting how rubbish Van Gaal was. I’ll even defend Moyes over him as Moyes was thrown into it with no experience at a top club and he genuinely did have an old team, but just didn’t have the balls to break it up. Van Gaal was spunking money, yet December 2015 is easily the worst we’ve sank since Ferguson left.
He was without doubt the worse of the post-Ferguson managers for me.
People need to stop forgetting how rubbish Van Gaal was. I’ll even defend Moyes over him as Moyes was thrown into it with no experience at a top club and he genuinely did have an old team, but just didn’t have the balls to break it up. Van Gaal was spunking money, yet December 2015 is easily the worst we’ve sank since Ferguson left.
He was without doubt the worse of the post-Ferguson managers for me.
He would have solved the right wing problem 3 years ago if only Woodward and his right hand man listened to him.
I never liked the way lvg and even moyes sacking was handled.
Only bankers can sit on the stadium watching every match and still hand out 5 year contracts to Phil jones while de gea and herrera's is yet not solved. I have never see so much stupidity on the highest level as we are spending but with no rewards. We are also wasting money and not achieving on the pitch.
I never liked the way lvg and even moyes sacking was handled.
Only bankers can sit on the stadium watching every match and still hand out 5 year contracts to Phil jones while de gea and herrera's is yet not solved. I have never see so much stupidity on the highest level as we are spending but with no rewards. We are also wasting money and not achieving on the pitch.
Yes, I always thought that was obvious. Ferguson kept quiet for the greater good you could say.
The notion that Ferguson would he happy with selling Ronaldo only to bring in Valencia, Owen and Obertan is absurd. He was always ruthless and after he had won three consecutive PL titles he spent a combined sum of 50m to bring in Veron and RvN - that was a shit ton of money back in 2001.
I agree, we shouldn't expect managers/coaches to be good at recruiting when their main job is coaching and developing players/ tactics. Recruitment in itself is a completely different role and we should have hired someone else to do that job I.e DOF
His legacy? Taking Ajax to Championship victory (after more than 20 years), two consecutive CL finals with them, winning the title with every club he managed (except for Man Utd), promoting youth players...
Especially that last shouldn’t be overlooked. He possibly is the coach that has been the most consequent in bringing on youthful talents. Remember when PSV baught Ronaldo, and Van Gaal said “we don’t need him, we got Kluivert” and he was ridiculed? At every club he brought in prospects. Sure, they were talented, but still: tend to be overlooked. Kluivert, Seedorf, Davids, Xavi, Iniesta, Puyol, Müller, Alaba, Rashford, Lingard, ...
Can you believe Alex Ferguson fought off Chelsea and City's billions and remained successful, while the Glazers were in charge? What a man. Got to think David Gill leaving was a big turning point as well.
Loved Van Gaal. Never wanted a man to succeed at this club more than him. Massive character who got the club, even if his style left a lot to be desired.
Loved Van Gaal. Never wanted a man to succeed at this club more than him. Massive character who got the club, even if his style left a lot to be desired.
Reduce Woodward’s power. This is pissing me off even more.
Of course he's right!
Look at our football - then look at how much money we make.
It's not up for debate really.
Hey now, let's not be too harsh on bankers. Not all of us would hand Phil a five year deal.
Everybody will forget about this as soon as we buy a football star.
I have to admit he is spot on, as much as I hated LVG for how stubborn he was in his philosophy the guy was a proven winner, just like Jose. LVG did make mistakes in alienating certain players but every manager does. Jose worked a miracle to make this team finish second last season. LVG also did the best he could with what he had. How often were we linked with Hummels? Do people believe LVG would want to play possession football with Smalling as a CB. They mightve signed new contracts but it is 100% done by Woodward. Jones got a new contract when we dont have a confirmed manager, his wages went from 50k to 120k. This is all down to Woodward. The guy is a virus. If we dont spend 250m+ this summer then it is a failure. And it is not a one summer job, we need to spend in January and the year after. Woodward showed his true colours when he signed Dalot, Fred and Grant after we finished 2nd.
To be fair, we have looked more like a Mourinho team last few games, as opposed to the first few games under Ole. But I do think that is a lot to do with injuries
Shouldn't this be in the United forum?
This indicates that Ed Woodward is a complete pillock that has never closely monitored the career of Jose Mourinho.
This indicates that Ed Woodward is a complete pillock that has never closely monitored the career of Jose Mourinho.
Fell asleep one match when he was in charge. That didn't even happen under Moyes. The most boring Utd i've ever seen was under him.
Im delighted he keeps calling the board and Woodward out, its astounding what they get away with and get out of jail on the clubs cash
Isn't it common knowledge he offered his resignation around xmas time when you really were in terrible form but board turned it down? Probably due to Mourinho not being able to/not wanting to take over team midway through a season. I agree poor from board to pretty much sack him straight after the cup final win.
How we handled his sacking was dreadful. I also think he's probably not wrong with a lot of his criticisms about the structure of the club.
The football under him was tumescent-I think the game just evolved beyond what was once a progressive playing style. So from a footballing perspective he was rightly got rid of. It was just handled terribly. And how bad his football was, or his massive ego, shouldn't really undermine the truth in some of the things he says-he has far more reason to say these things than the Moyesiah.
He's wrong about a bunch of stuff sure, but he still understands football a lot more than a lot of the people above him at the club.
The football under him was tumescent-I think the game just evolved beyond what was once a progressive playing style. So from a footballing perspective he was rightly got rid of. It was just handled terribly. And how bad his football was, or his massive ego, shouldn't really undermine the truth in some of the things he says-he has far more reason to say these things than the Moyesiah.
He's wrong about a bunch of stuff sure, but he still understands football a lot more than a lot of the people above him at the club.
I can't remember if LvG offered to resign or not to be honest.
Not just because of injuries, ole and phelan are wise enough to understand our team and midfield is not good enough to control and stop opposition counter attacks when we face a attacking team we play reactive counter attacking football to accommodate those shortcomings.
Fergie really had elite midfielders who could play attacking and not switch off without the ball and even press from the front, this team does not have the tools as Fergie had.
We can play different ways depending on opposition.