Man United’s journey back to the top - From SAF to LVG

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  • The past and present: Sir Alex Ferguson, Louis van Gaal and David Moyes.

    Two months into being offered the job as manager of Real Sociedad, David Moyes was ordered off the touchline for protesting too vigorously against an offside decision. He jogged away to the stands, hopping over a fence in the process, and took his seat next to a pair of young fans, wide smile beaming on his affable, albeit careworn face. One of them offered him a packet of crisps. He took one, thanked her, and settled back to enjoy the remainder of the game.

    Imagine the hullaballoo if the Scot had reacted in a similarly offhand manner just a few months previously in the hot seat at Old Trafford. The vicious editorials that would have been penned, the ridicule he would have faced, the laughing stock he would have become. Think of the contempt directed his way, picture the sneering cynicism of those who thought they knew better. Actually, never mind the imagination – simply recall the time it really happened.

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    MOYES’ MANCHESTER MISERY

    From the moment he walked into the job at Manchester United, it seemed there were many who would relish seeing him fail. Not just seeing United as a club fail, but Moyes personally. Moyes is a humble, often endearingly self-deprecating man who worked his way from Preston North End to Everton, turning the Toffees from being perpetually in Liverpool’s shadow to finishing above them in the league in his last two years in charge. But he became a figure of fun at United.

    His tag as ‘The Chosen One’, a medal he had every right to wear with pride, became a noose that inexorably tightened around his neck until the final sickening snap. The press, who appeared to find out about his sacking before the man himself, looked to find new ways to humiliate someone who had kept his dignity throughout the whole sorry affair. He might as well have been paraded through the streets of Manchester.

    ARISE KING LOUIS

    And so arrived Louis van Gaal, his appointment announced exactly a year to the day after Sir Alex Ferguson’s last game in charge. It is likely he was offered the job as much for his reputation as a strong, no-nonsense disciplinarian as his tactical nous and history of success with Europe’s biggest clubs.

    Results were initially patchy, just as they had been under Moyes but, true to reputation, Van Gaal took no nonsense from the media about any speculation surrounding his future. His players knew full well who the boss was, and the sort of revolt that always seemed to be simmering under his predecessor was a far cry.

    The first season saw the club guided back to fourth place, guaranteeing a return to the Champions League. Then, seven matches into his second season, Van Gaal actually guided his team to the top of the Premier League. United have hovered around the top of the table since. Once an excellent manager is assured generous investment – to the tune of £250 million (Dh1.42 billion) in Van Gaal’s case – and ample breathing space, the results can be truly remarkable.

    EQUAL TREATMENT?

    It is hard to imagine Moyes being granted carte blanche to sign any and every player he thought he needed to ensure United remained at the pinnacle of English football. Indeed, the only acquisition during the former Everton manager’s first transfer window was Marouane Fellaini from his old club at the rather inflated price of £27 million (Dh153m), more than his buyout clause. It betrayed Moyes’ inexperience at dealing with big-money signings, not helped by the departure of CEO David Gill, which meant both manager and new CEO Ed Woodward were learning on the job.

    However, Moyes was catching on quickly enough. In his only other transfer window, he bought Juan Mata from Chelsea, arguably United’s player of this season so far. Results in the Champions League under Moyes, a first-timer to that competition, were exceptional, too. Four wins in the group stage ensured Manchester United coasted through to the knockout phase, where they made the quarter-finals, losing over two legs to the-then best club in the world, Bayern Munich, and not without giving the defending champions an almighty scare. That run to the last eight is the furthest the Red Devils have advanced in Europe over the last four years.

    Moyes did not help himself at times, and seemed to be slightly taken by surprise by the intense scrutiny management at the top level brings. His comment that United should be “aspiring to play more like City” was always going to incense the fans – brought up in a generation of complete dominance over their Manchester rivals – leaving him open to the accusation he lacked the winning mentality to merit being handed the United job. Moreover, clearing Ferguson’s backroom staff, the behind-the-scenes elves who ensured everything worked smoothly at the club and knew its workings inside out, meant he found himself bereft of the inside knowledge that would have been invaluable to help him acclimatise at the club.

    Moyes trudges back to the dugout in his final match for United against his old club Everton.

    Even so, the players can hardly be blamed for making it too easy for him. Rumours of discontent among the players were rife, many claiming the new manager was the wrong man to take the club to the top. Moyes likely felt his authority undermined, and in the absence of a vote of confidence from the board of the sort Van Gaal appears to enjoy, was never in a position to lay down the law.

    The board’s ambivalence towards him was puzzling, though: why give a man a six-year contract, only to sack him less than one season into it? Dismissing someone over short-term results implies they couldn’t be trusted long-term, but then giving him a long-term contract in the first place suggests it wasn’t just the results on the pitch that were a mess – the board’s state of mind wasn’t too far behind.  

    LESSONS TO LEARN

    After lurching from one disaster to another, Manchester United finally appear to have found a successful formula again. New signings are gelling well – Anthony Martial in particular looks a gem – while David de Gea’s contractual situation has been sorted out, and the team are again near the top of the table, where fans believe a club of United’s stature belongs.

    Given their experience, may suggested Van Gaal was Ferguson's natural successor.

    “Louis van Gaal’s army” looks to have found its voice again, and there is little doubt who its leader is. However, the Dutchman has promised his wife this is his last job, and he has no intention of extending his stay past next season. It is entirely plausible that Van Gaal will leave the club, like he has so many others, better than he found it. They may even win the league in his last year, a la Ferguson.

    Then a new manager comes in again, almost certainly Ryan Giggs. It is important to avoid the litany of errors that tarnished the club’s reputation and diminished its standing in the European game during Moyes’ stint. If the period post-Van Gaal can be managed rather more maturely than the spell following Ferguson’s departure, the Red Devils may yet be able to draw some blessings out of that cursed time. 

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