Manchester United Manager Louis van Gaal is nicknamed “The Iron Tulip” due to his hard-liner style and Dutch heritage. He’s known for his stern leadership style, not for a sense of humor. However, Van Gaal showed off his comedic timing and ability to be funny yesterday in the press conference previewing United versus Queens Park Rangers.
LVG took the media by surprise with the way he handled the injury report, and then increased the funny by pretending to walk out of the presser.
Around the 3:20 mark is where Van Gaal is asked about the injuries. At the 4:45 mark he pretends to get up and leave. At 4:58 mark, he is all smiles and gives a thumbs up.
‘It’s very difficult to say and it’s also not good to say, because then I lay pressure on the evaluation. After three weeks you will say: “Louis, Louis, why is he not fit enough”. That’s not good, it’s not good for the players and it’s not good for me. Only good for you maybe!’
Just before pretending to leave the room , Louis van Gaal said: ‘I have not spoke a lot. You have asked. I don’t want to say anything, I can go away.’
LVG is still looking for his first Premier League victory as United manager. But as you can see from the video above, he’s not really feeling pressured, and he seems to be in very good spirits despite the slow start.
Here is the injury report for Sunday. And here is the game preview and television info. Van Gaal says he will stick to his philosophy at Manchester United; so we will see Sunday what that means.
In the meantime here’s, more quotes transcribed from the Louis van Gaal press conference.
Paul M. Banks owns, operates and sometimes writes The Sports Bank.net, which is partners with Fox Sports and Yahoo. Read his features stories in theChicago Tribune RedEye edition. Listen to him on 1620 The Zone. Follow him on Twitter (@paulmbanks) His work has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including The Washington Post and ESPN2.