On the same weekend that Louis van Gaal won his first and only trophy at Manchester United, he was replaced by Jose Mourinho. As the Dutchman was winning the FA Cup for United, on May 21st, 2016, the club was about to sack him and bring Mourinho in.
No matter what you think of Van Gaal, his style of management and his short tenure at Old Trafford, you can understand why he would still be bitter today about what happened to him.
Van Gaal had an impromptu meeting with his successor today at Anfield, following United’s goalless draw with Liverpool.
Mourinho invited Van Gaal in to his office for a glass of wine and conversation. After the meeting, Van Gaal leveled some criticism against Mourinho, saying that he goes “out of control too much,” and slammed the way that he was ousted at MUFC, calling it “not elegant.”
Van Gaal believes the Portuguese was lobbying to get his job while he was still in power at Old Trafford.
“Of course,” LVG said.
“How I have suspected it, the way his transfer as a manager to Manchester United went was not elegant at all. That resulted in my sacking. In principle, he is not a bad guy. He can be sympathetic and he was this way when he was my assistant in the past.
“But he lets himself go out of control too often.’’
It wasn’t all negative though. Van Gaal was well received by United fans and staff, as he said: “I have great memories and my relationship with all the staff and fans was great during my time at United.’’
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now and Minute Media. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and Chicago Now.
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