What “identity” did Ole provide?
Van Gaal at least had a style and identity during his term, however dull it may be.
Maguire, awb, sancho, Ronaldo… these are arguably worse wastes of money than Van Gaal’s buys.
Bye bye Van Gaal | Really enjoying managerial retirement
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In the latest episode of the United Hour Podcast, Nik @Rood and Imran @Annihilate Now! start with the good news by celebrating Manchester United Women's emphatic FA Cup win over Spurs at Wembley and the future of manager Marc Skinner.
Then it's the bad news and the ever worsening form of our Men with losses to Arsenal and Palace.
Finally the main debate - ETH Out now or keep him until the end of the season - if not longer. Are you Team Nik or Team Imran?
Van Gaal at least had a style and identity during his term, however dull it may be.
Maguire, awb, sancho, Ronaldo… these are arguably worse wastes of money than Van Gaal’s buys.
I feel like he was the last coach we had who was trying to move forward. I love ole and in a shit house kinda way I love Jose as well, but it felt like we were treading water. As horrible as his football was to watch, he had a plan. His recruitment let him down badly imo.
But there's also mate
I still find it hard to dislike van Gaal. The football became sterile and it was the right time for him to go when he did, but he had some good traits and the way his exit came about was unfair on him.
He was brilliant at United in games against the biggest clubs in the PL.
He has retired before, will be back
The exit and the way it was done was appalling and it's to his great credit he didn't make much out of it, or if he did I don't recall anyway
It makes perfect sense. A manager with a big ego wants to be the key to success so it makes sense to minimize the importance of star players. Mourinho similar.
Think he'll be back for a fourth spell?
Ridiculous comment - he's retiring, not the team FFS
Not even AWB for 50?
He'll always have a little place in the darkest part of my football memory. His spell was by far the hardest one to go through, I don't care about results just watching that awful boring football. I almost gave up watching my beloved team because of him. I lost count of how many times I fell asleep during his spell.
He's a winner and his resume speaks for itself.
Most top level managers, athletes etc are narcissistic and it's not exclusive to him.
You have to at least somewhat self centered to reach those heights.
Unforgettable coach, not afraid to adapt or change his vision on football. Funny as hell as well.
He also called his last group of players his best ever, obviously not quite true but lets not pretend he is only self centered.
He also called his last group of players his best ever, obviously not quite true but lets not pretend he is only self centered.
Incredible character hard to dislike him.
Honestly, I don't think there is another coach who could have done more than him with this Dutch side. When he first signed for the national team, I thought we would be a disaster, but far from it.
Honestly, I don't think there is another coach who could have done more than him with this Dutch side. When he first signed for the national team, I thought we would be a disaster, but far from it.
Have to say, I really like the guy. OK, things went wrong for him at United (as it did for those before and after) but given the right players he showed he could play attacking football. Sadly that was with his Dutch team rather than us. I know he probably had to go but given a better set up at the club and better recruitment he might have been more successful. I also think it's tough to be sacked right after you win a major trophy.
As for now, Emiliano Martinez comes across as pretty stupid if he says a manager "needs to keep his mouth shut". Managers are paid to talk and particularly to boost their teams spirit (he was saying the Dutch would win a penalty shoot out). Can't say Messi's comments - or behaviour on the pitch during the game - endeared me to him either... starting to remind me of Maradona - and not in a good way.
I hope Van Gaal has a long and happy retirement given he overcome prostate cancer not that long ago
As for now, Emiliano Martinez comes across as pretty stupid if he says a manager "needs to keep his mouth shut". Managers are paid to talk and particularly to boost their teams spirit (he was saying the Dutch would win a penalty shoot out). Can't say Messi's comments - or behaviour on the pitch during the game - endeared me to him either... starting to remind me of Maradona - and not in a good way.
I hope Van Gaal has a long and happy retirement given he overcome prostate cancer not that long ago
Anger towards him at this point in time baffles me even more than resenting Moyes. Very weird placed negativity.
Really dont get the hatred towards him. He actually won us a trophy, even if the football at times was boring. On top of that he was, by far, the most funny manager we have had.
Wouldnt want him as our manager, but the intense dislike he gets from some on here is odd.
Wouldnt want him as our manager, but the intense dislike he gets from some on here is odd.
I don’t understand why his deluded, drunk uncle routine still gets laughs or ever did.
He was our best manager post Ferguson and a great coach in his day.
He would make an absolutely brilliant pundit if he ever chose to go that route. He's got loads of character and an unrivalled insight into the game. Can you imagine him sat next to Danny Murphy and Jermaine Jenas
He would make an absolutely brilliant pundit if he ever chose to go that route. He's got loads of character and an unrivalled insight into the game. Can you imagine him sat next to Danny Murphy and Jermaine Jenas
Yes it's strange why a charismatic, funny and entertaining person gets a positive reaction.
Such bizarre levels of anger.
Who’s angry here ? I think you’re confused.
Agree entirely. Shame the players didn't buy into his philosophy fully and the recruitment was poor.He was our best manager post Ferguson and a great coach in his day.
He would make an absolutely brilliant pundit if he ever chose to go that route. He's got loads of character and an unrivalled insight into the game. Can you imagine him sat next to Danny Murphy and Jermaine Jenas
I feel like they did for the most part, there were obvious exceptions, but we just lacked the key attacking players to make it work.
Yea both of Falcao and AdM not working out, plus Van Persie fading away was a huge loss.
Recruitment was his downfall. Had he been able to bring in better players he could have been successful here, you could see what he was trying to do but the players weren't capable. For that I think Woodward takes a big chunk of the blame over LVG.
Despite the pain he caused with the brand of football during the later end of his tenure with us I still respect him and wanted him to do well. He was also one entertaining basta*d.
The players bought in to LVG’s philosophy though. You can criticise it for being boring, but he nailed it in getting the players to play tactically and attempt to have more possession of the ball no matter who we were up against.
The biggest issue was us not having a player who could provide the spark of magic that would get us the goal.
He is on lesser wages and has his uses. Terrible yeah, but not Maguire/Sancho level
Completely agree with you. People who always talk about their achievements and "I" have missed a great part of being a leader. Mourinho did the same, and he was also very quick to throw individuals under the bus if they had let HIM down. You win as a team and you lose as a team.
You could say this about pretty much every manager we've had.
I don't really buy into the whole "you could see what he was trying to do" line which is so often repeated on here in his defence. We looked clueless on the pitch.
We wouldn't have literally torn apart some great opponents if we were clueless. We just didn't have the players to create enough every game.
But that’s the thing with pragmatism, it does have a tendency to come off sometimes against strong opposition, making people forget that week-in, week-out it was pretty dire stuff. It’s also worth noting that the league was pretty weak at the time.
Enjoy retirement Louis, gave me some of the best naps with your brand of football 
On a serious note, he's had a great career and can be proud of it. His career post-United, just like of our other former post Fergie managers, showed another thing - none of them proved it was wrong from United to sack them, we even sacked most of them 6 months too late, Moyes aside (some may argue even he should've got the sack as early as December that season). Sure problems at club go beyond the manager and we know it but those managers were part of the problem as well.
On a serious note, he's had a great career and can be proud of it. His career post-United, just like of our other former post Fergie managers, showed another thing - none of them proved it was wrong from United to sack them, we even sacked most of them 6 months too late, Moyes aside (some may argue even he should've got the sack as early as December that season). Sure problems at club go beyond the manager and we know it but those managers were part of the problem as well.
Didn't work out with us and the football was poor but I love Louie, cracking character and by most accounts a pretty good guy too. Hope he gets past his cancer illness and enjoys his retirement, the mad man.
Plus he shares my birthday so that probably is a reason for the soft spot
Plus he shares my birthday so that probably is a reason for the soft spot
No he is not. Very limited and one dimensional. He hasn't been a top manager for an age
NATION LEVEL
Yup. Van Gaal had the easiest crack at a PL title we’re going to see for any Manchester United in a very long time.
And isolated very good results/performances against top teams would imply Ole is/was as good a manager as Van Gaal.
This. I wish him all the best. Great character, and a coach VERY well suited to international tournaments.