Former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal remains bitter about his 2016 sacking from his former employer. Since he was dismissed, on the same weekend that he won his first and only trophy with the club, Van Gaal has not been shy about airing his grievances with Old Trafford in public.
The Dutchman has previously hit out at the way upper management treated him/terminated his employment. He’s also slammed his successor Jose Mourinho, for the manner in which he replaced him. He’s even gone so far as to say that Mourinho’s current United are “far more boring” than the teams he put out on the pitch.
Today, in a new interview with Sport BILD, Van Gaal has made peace with Mourinho, and no longer blames the current manager for a situation that he maintains was very unfair to him.
Van Gaal still has an axe to grind with United Executive Vice President Ed Woodward however, who he claims assured him of job security, despite media reports indicating the opposite.
“What I find wrong is when a CEO says we’re totally happy with you, do not believe the press. Then you win the FA Cup and still be fired,” Van Gaal said, hitting out at Woodward.
Towards Mourinho, the Dutchman took a more sympathetic tone.
“I am not disappointed with José Mourinho. Every coach wants to train Manchester United, it’s one of the biggest clubs in the world,” LVG added.
“I think José wanted that, too, and although he was able to do so in 13th place, he had a chance on a fantastic team like Chelsea. I was in fourth place! I still do not blame him. “
Van Gaal also named Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola the best current manager in the Premier League, adding that he plays a style at City that Van Gaal aspired to play at United. For good measure, Van Gaal claims that he would have gotten it right at Old Trafford, if only he were given more time. (His tenure lasted just two seasons).
“Pep Guardiola is for me currently the best coach of the Premier League,“ he proclaimed. “Pep made City a machine. He shows a football that I would have liked to play at Manchester United. But he has better players for it. For me, the process would have taken longer. Unfortunately, I did not get the time.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune company’s blogging community Chicago Now.
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