LVG: Man Utd is a commercial club, not like Bayern Munich.

[Giggsyking]

In his latest interview with sport bild

"I wanted to sign Hummels for Manchester United," Van Gaal told Sport Bild. "But because at that time he was coming out of a poorer season, we didn't do it in the end.
"I can confirm that I wanted Muller. But there was nothing we could do. FC Bayern made it clear that they would not sell him."

"Manchester United, who I last coached, is a commercial club," he added. "Totally different to Bayern. The bosses, like Karl Heinz Rummenigge and Uli Hoeness, are former players who know what they are talking about.
"Football is the most important thing, not money like it is now at United. That's why I love Bayern."

Van Gaal has criticised his successor for how he handled the respected former Germany captain.

“Schweinsteiger was older, of course, but not too old,” he told German daily Sport Bild.
“Still, his body was not able to keep up with the high demands of Premier League.
“Bayern sold him to us as fit player but, in reality, physically he had reached the end.
“How Mourinho treated him after me, Schweini did not deserve this.
“But it also explains how things were with Schweinsteiger.
“It’s a shame because he is a player like Luis Enrique, Mark van Bommel or Philipp Lahm, a character always present on the pitch.”

 

[Handré1990]

Yawn

 

[DWelbz19]

I mean, it sort of falls in line with Klopp saying Woodward sold Manchester United as an 'adult's version of Disneyland' and his other recent comment about Alexis Sanchez's announcement having more 'Twitter interactions' than even Neymar(!)

van Gaal still manages to come across as a pompous bore, though.

 

[horsechoker]

I think he's more bitter than Moyes, Moyes seems to have at least moved on.

 

[clarkydaz]

Hard to argue with the money accusation

 

[Giant Midget]

What’s wrong with having a commercial focus? We support our managers completely on the football side. I don’t really care what goes on apart from that, as long as they don’t sell Old Trafford’s naming rights.

 

[Zoo]

So he got duped by Uli and Karl at Bayern regarding Scwhweinsteiger but still loves them. Cheers Louis.

 

[MrPooni]

I mean, it sort of falls in line with Klopp saying Woodward sold Manchester United as an 'adult's version of Disneyland' and his other recent comment about Alexis Sanchez's announcement having more 'Twitter interactions' than even Neymar(!)
.

The comments you're referring to were part of a conference call with investors – what would you have preferred he talk about? Whether he thinks Jose should play 4-3-3 with Pogba on the left of midfield? Christ.

 

[Samid]

Oh bore off. His obsession knows no boundaries. Just move on with your life you bitter old dinosaur.

 

[Ban]

Poor Bayern thinking only about football while picking all the best Bundesliga players when that want as they want.

Hey LVG you love them but they hate you.

 

[prateik]

Most top clubs are going the money way. Bayern and Juventus are probably the ones that are still not going all crazy with the money.

I'll take it more as praise for them and less as a criticism for what we are doing.

 

[Coops73]

Oh do feck off Van Gaal, you’re bitter, we get it, time to move on.

 

[izec]

I agree with almost everything, except he should have bought Hummels. We would be much better off now

 

[Trizy]

And that's why we could afford to buy Bayern.

Nothing wrong with making money from your appeal, especially since we've had no problem with give the manger loads of money in the past 4 years.

 

[12OunceEpilogue]

Jose was pretty ruthless in his treatment of Basti, but LVG says himself the player's body was not up to the rigours of our league at that stage. Was Jose meant to treat Basti with reverence because of his name alone? Because that's the kind of bullshit that ends with you starting the likes of Di Maria and Falcao when they're horribly out of form and not in the slightest bit keen to play for your club.

United being preoccupied with commercial issues, possibly at the expense of footballing nous, is a valid criticism and having football men at the top of your club is a pretty cool way to go about things. But it's a bit much to propose Bayern as some kind of frugal 'mehr als ein Verein' given how they've flashed the cash in the recent past.

 

[Dolf]

Nothing bitter about this. It's simply the truth. He's saying Schweinsteiger was physically done when he came here and he is right. Also nobody can deny that we're a commercial club.

 

[Jim Beam]

Cheers Louie, enjoy the wine and a mince pie. Goodbye.

 

[Infra-red]

I'm pleased that he's chosen to accept his (entirely justified) sacking in such a mature, dignified manner, rather than acting like a spoilt child or jilted lover.

 

[sullydnl]

Nothing actually wrong in what he said, not that it will stop people from criticising him.

 

[Coxy]

And that's why we could afford to buy Bayern.

Nothing wrong with making money from your appeal, especially since we've had no problem with give the manger loads of money in the past 4 years.

you what?

 

[Jaybomb]

Is he wrong?

United used to have traditions. But it seems like we’ve fallen out of touch with that since Sir Alex retired.

But Van Gaal was a big part of that too... the majority of his signings were not Manchester United players. It was obvious to me that Depay, Schneiderlin, Schweinsteiger and Darmian wouldn’t work out here. The two LVG signings I was actually excited about; Di Maria and Falcao turned out to be two flops. And that was mostly down to LVG himself.

Mourinho’s kind of getting us back on track... Pogba, Ibra, Sanchez, Bailly and Matic are all what I’d call proper United players. I could see them all under Ferguson winning titles.... but Mkhitaryan was an obvious one that was never gonna make it here. That’s the only one Mourinho got wrong IMO.

Having said all that, I wish we would become more about the football again. I miss the days when we had an British core. Nowadays we just seem to be chucking hundreds of thousands at “world class” players and hoping they’ll fit the bill of what a United player is all about. It’s just not that simple. I don’t think Luis Figo would have worked out at United as well as say... David Beckham did. That doesn’t mean Beckham is the better player... it just means he’s more suited to the club and we need to make better judgements going forward.

 

[SalfordRed18]

Sacked our previous two managers for shit results on the pitch, now have manager who's won us the Europa league and currently 2nd in the league, but united don't care about the football?

Hmmmm.

 

[KirkDuyt]

He's not wrong.

However, he should just stop embarrassing himself by talking about United. You failed at United Louis, you did, it's no one else's fault. Close the fecking book already.

 

[jeff_goldblum]

Whilst I don't like how commercial the club is and there are specific things I hate about the way the club is run at boardroom level, it simply has to be a commercial outfit in order to survive in modern English football. If it wasn't we'd have been buried by the billionaire's playground clubs and falling out of the Champions League for a few seasons would have put us in the wilderness for the forseeable future.

I really admire German football, especially for how it's kept the fans at the centre of things, but the domestic challenges Bayern face are nothing compared to those faced by the top Premier League clubs, on or off the pitch.

 

[NinjaFletch]

I find it hard to disagree too much with that tbh.

The commercialisation of the club is a necessary evil of what the Premier League has become, but I do think the excessive focus on the commercial side of things has had a detrimental impact on our on pitch performances. The lack of football men in the higher echelons of the club (l thought Bobby and Ferguson were involved with that side of things, but a quick check shows that they're not listed) has led to a some of our post-Ferguson missteps.

 

[Greck]

How else are we to stay competitive? We're not like Bayern that can pick players within our league for cheap.

 

[RedDevil@84]

She is gone Louis, gone with someone better than you, someone more deserving than you. You should move on now.

 

[GhastlyHun]

He also said he would not return to Bayern as long as Uli Hoeneß is boss here. And that he was given all sorts of shit for sticking to playing Alaba and for moving Lahm from left to right - decisions which were crucial for our recently ended era of strength.

 

[Paxi]

He's nauseating.

 

[Wednesday at Stoke]

Going by the picture, life seems to be going well for Louis.

 

[sugar_kane]

Yes I agree, Bayern Munich of the Allianz Arena are definitely not a commercial entity.

I mean look at all these unknown indie start up companies they've partnered up with for one,

https://fcbayern.com/en/club/partner

and they're only the 4th richest club in the world, absolute minnows.

feck off gobshite

 

[Infra-red]

Is he wrong?

United used to have traditions. But it seems like we’ve fallen out of touch with that since Sir Alex retired about the mid-90's.

Corrected that for you.

If we've sold our souls, it happened a long time before Sir Alex retired.

 

[whatwha]

Woodward's United is all about the money tbh

 

[Rory 7]

And of course LVG worked for free at both clubs

 

[sullydnl]

Going by the picture, life seems to be going well for Louis.

One of the perks of managing at a commercial club is that they pay you a feckton of money to live the rest of your life in luxury.

 

[Ban]

So United is a commercial club just cause we don't have football men up top and Bayern is all about football?

What is the difference between United and any other tip club? It's all about the money cause you need it to buy the players you need to be on top or come to the top.

 

[roonster09]

Woodward's United is all about the money tbh

Every club is all about money. Woodward's role is to make money so that he can buy players coach asks for.

 

[roonster09]

So United is a commercial club just cause we don't have football men up top and Bayern is all about football?

Hilarious isn't it? It's like clubs like ManUtd have to earn their money rather than relying on some sugar daddy.

 

[AR87]

As long as we're a commerical club who back our manager in the transfer market I'm not worried. Our focus in every managerial appointment as long as this is our setup needs to be one with a focus on managers who have proven themselves adept at buying and selling in the market.

Say what you will about Mourinho's tactics but he has proven at virtually every stop in his career to be a shrewd operator in building a solid squad with a level of longevity. LvG was just a bad choice to give a blank check too. It's unfortunate since the conditions then to buy were much better than they are now and what they'll probably be moving forward.

 

[OnlyTwoDaSilvas]

Can't disagree with much of what he says about United - but clearly Bayern are very much a commercial club too, and they tower over the rest of their league in size and power.

I don't know what he did to Schweinsteiger that was so awful? Van Gaal has said he was physically shot, Mourinho had to get rid and reportedly had a hard time doing so at the time. Basti himself holds no resentment, so I don't know why Louis feels the need to.


United wants to be the biggest club in the world. It has to make a lot of money to do that, and it does. Not sure what the problem is there.