Louis van Gaal has ended his two-year rule at Manchester United after winning FA Cup but more important missing out on Champions League as Jose Mourinho is set to take over. It is believed that van Gaal has lost the respect of his players with unconventional management and constant scrutiny of their performances and more with the imposition of restrained football on the team which has capable individuals who were pretty much forbidden to display all of their talent due to rigid tactics.
Although the Dutchman led United to their 12thFA Cup trophy with 2-1 win against Crystal Palace at Wembley on Saturday it is believed that the board at Old Trafford decided before that match to replace him with Jose Mourinho who has been openly advocating himself as the next Manchester United manager for months now. It was unlikely that 64-year-old van Gaal would be in charge next season even if he achieved Champions League qualifications this season due to breakdown in relationship with his players.
From the first day of Van Gaal’s term at Old Trafford when he succeeded David Moyes United’s senior players like Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata or Ashley Young have struggled to adapt to the rigid tactics imposed by the former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach. It is believed that 2014 summer training camp regime of training starting at 8:30 in the morning with almost full day scheduled without free time and bed time at 21:30 for 14 days completely shattered the morale of the team which went on to have worst season start in 25 years. Also, for almost 25 years under Sir Alex Ferguson, the first-team was regularly given a day off on Monday if United played a Sunday game, but Van Gaal dismissed that rule and has insisted on his players coming in for training on Mondays. He would also mistreat players for poor games in front of each other which led captain Wayne Rooney and vice-captain Michael Carrick to urge their manager to soften his method in order to avoid killing off the confidence of his players.
Van Gaal did earn the gratitude of the boardroom for promoting young players such as Marcus Rashford, Cameron Borthwick-Jackson, Timothy Fosu-Mensah and Jesse Lingard, but is also accused of preferential treatment of his former Bayern pupil, Bastian Schweinsteiger who was allowed to spend too much time away from the club between games which annoyed many other players. Also, the ranks inside the club believe that Memphis Depay, the £25 million summer signing is allowed to waste his talents due to Van Gaal’s poor tactics.
It remains to be seen if Van Gaal’s leaving will be followed by departure of Ryan Giggs, as the legendary Welshman had the backing of many senior players in the club to become the next United’s manager.
Inside the club many players secretly feel that a major rebuilding job is required to make the team competitive again especially with Pep Guardiola arriving at Manchester City and Arsenal, Chelsea and Liverpool preparing for summer spending spree. That task will fall to Jose Mourinho who also had his share of losing the faith of his players at Chelsea but who also can motivate the squad to leave all they got for him on the pitch – which of those two will he get from his new side will be seen come August and the new season start.