#360view: Van Gaal must step aside for sake of club and himself

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Mail
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • WhatsApp
  • Pinterest
  • LinkedIn
  • Use #360view to have your say on LVG.

    No matter what happens at Wembley Saturday night, the end of Louis van Gaal’s miserable Manchester United reign must follow.

    An expected victory against Crystal Palace during the FA Cup final should not cloud the judgement of the Red Devils’ already questionable decision makers. Further distasteful football and underachievement will follow if the sight of lifting the illustrious trophy for a record-equalling 12th time ensures the final year of his deal, signed in 2014, is seen out.

    Only craven and self-serving behaviour from executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has kept the dated Dutch manager in his post ahead of Jose Mourinho this long. The institutional stasis about him means even an unforgivable failure – the bare minimum with £250 million (Dh1.3 billion) spent – to qualify for the 2016/17 Champions League is no guarantee the guillotine will drop this summer.

    Instead, Van Gaal should see past a famously inflated ego and look at his first trophy at Old Trafford as the perfect way to salvage what is left of a fading reputation. With a disinclination announced upon arrival to extend his contract, he must take the choice away from United’s bungling chiefs and in time one of the best coaches of the past 25 years will be remembered as such.

    Things can only get worse next season. It never goes well for ‘lame duck managers’, a fact even Sir Alex Ferguson can attest to after the damage caused before his retirement U-turn in 2001/02.

    Van Gaal’s crimes against the sport in his current post stretch far beyond not winning a spot at European football’s top table next term. He has single-handedly sought to make the title ‘The Theatre of Dreams’ a misnomer.

    This season, a league high 3222 backwards passes, a club low of 49 goals scored in the Premier League era and chance creation of 312 which is better than just Watford, Aston Villa and West Bromwich Albion have been registered. Only insomniacs in the red half of Manchester will celebrate such statistics. His “philosophy” has proven anathema to supporters used to the swashbuckling approach established by Sir Matt Busby. Missing out on the Champions League through goal difference proved fitting for a coach obsessed with nullifying the strengths of opponents rather than unleashing his expensively-assembled charges.

    When the sight of clumsy defender Phil Jones taking corners, lightweight midfielder Daley Blind regularly being deployed out of position at centre-back and a shocking wastage of cash summed up by the mismanagement of Argentine playmaker Angel Di Maria are added in, there can be no justifiable case for a continuation.

    His duplicitous praise of the supporters’ faith during his end- of-season address on Tuesday and subsequent blasting of expectation levels in the post-match press conference was also inexcusable. Especially in a campaign when lowly Leicester City pulled off a miracle and lifted the top-flight crown.

    Even a recent promotion of exciting youngsters Marcus Rashford and Timothy Fosu-Mensah seemed to have happened by accident rather than design. You have to raid your youth ranks mid-season if you take the curious decision to trim a squad which will play more matches than 2014/15 because of European qualification and must face up to the unique physical demands of England’s top flight.

    Genuine positives are difficult to identity. The wonderful March and April in 2015 which produced dynamic wins against Tottenham Hotspur, Liverpool and Manchester City was a joyous break to the regular drudgery and could not be replicated.

    Indeed, it seems like another person developed a youthful Ajax team into Champions League winners 21 years ago, won four major trophies at Barcelona, remarkably led AZ Alkmaar to the Eredivisie title, laid the foundations for the incredible Bayern Munich side of today and finished third with the Netherlands at World Cup 2014.

    There is ample evidence such success is now beyond the 64-yearold. Enough damage has been done already at United. Lifting the FA Cup will be illusionary rather than a guarantee of a fruitful 2016/17.

    Contentment during his Portuguese retirement can only be achieved by immediately stepping aside in the aftermath.

    Recommended