Thank you Van Gaal Thread

horsechoker said:
This is why it's hilarious that people feel sorry for him. Yeah it's a shame it didn't work out but people are feeling sorry for him like he's been sent to a death camp
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I don't feel sorry for him because now he will become poor and homeless. He made enough cash well before joining us and will have plenty of money to spend any way post retirement.

I feel sorry because our contract with an established manager, in his final job, is being terminated. I feel sorry because he had to deal with very high expectations (natural at a club as big as Man United) and couldn't quite match these expectations. I feel sorry for him because for months and months he was trying to work while knowing that he might be fired the following morning. It's not easy to function this way. Almost everyone was against him and the way he ends his honorable career is not fitting even if it is completely justified from our point of view.

Oh, and I feel sorry that we got to this point where Manchester United, the team that was managed by the same person for 26 years, has sacked two managers in the space of 25 months.
 
Whilst I do think it's the correct decision to sack him I am sorry to see him leave. I was delighted when the club appointed him, I thought he would be brilliant for us and I genuinely believed he would win a league title during his time here.

Enjoy your retirement Louis and thanks for the FA Cup.
 
How well has he aged!!!
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I like Van Gaal the man. I hate Van Gaal's football.

I genuinely loathe Moyes, both the man and the manager.

So I'm happy Louis leaves us with a trophy and ends his career on somewhat of a high.
 
Just to play devils advocate ....
Do you think you could draw parallels between SAF's first FA Cup win and van gaal's?
A breakthrough of sorts buying him enough time to lay stronger foundations?
Where if we stuck with him and he continued to develop martial, rashford, lingaard, shaw, smalling, blind and told the rest to feck off to be replaced by players who would follow his plan
and we'd then be great with him adding finishing touches to the team between the rather good strikers (martial, rashford) and the solid defence (smalling, blind, de gea).

I know it was a very, very different time in football and the clubs fortunes in general.
Its pretty optimistic on him turning this team into much more than we've been watching for 2 years more or less too.
Just a romantic idea of football that disappeared from the rest of the football world decades ago but im just.not.used.to
 
To be fair, as much as I love SAF, you have to say that Van Gaal leaves Mourinho a better foundation than Sir Alex left Moyes. Sure, it was a team of champions but they were all past their peak and going downhill (maybe except De Gea, as even smalling was rubbish in his season with Moyes). Van Gaal left us with Martial, Rashford (better than Welbeck), Lingard, Mensah, De Gea (better than ever before), Mike Smalling, Memphis, Schneiderlin, glimpses of Varela, and maybe Shaw.

And to top it off he won us the FA cup. So thanks Van Gaal, even though I am in favour of you leaving, we are in a better stead because of you and if we do win the league next season you would have played your part in it.
 
Ole's_toe_poke said:
I like Van Gaal the man. I hate Van Gaal's football.

I genuinely loathe Moyes, both the man and the manager.

So I'm happy Louis leaves us with a trophy and ends his career on somewhat of a high.
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Agreed
Stealing fourth from under city would have been nice though
 
His stubbornness and unwillingness to change was his downfall.

Still, he was great with the young lads. Signing Martial, bringing through Rashford, Fosu-Mensah, Borthwick-Jackson, turning Lingard into a decent player who looks like he belongs at the club, and of course, winning the FA Cup.
 
100 said:
I've never wanted a manage to work out more and I'm disappointed that it went pear shaped. Grateful for the chances given to Rashford, Lingard and co. and I'm glad he got some sort of consolation with the FA Cup. I hope it was amicable. I look upon his time as neither negative nor positive The next few years will probably decide how I truly feel about his two years. Good luck LvG.
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nail on the head
 
A thank you thread is entirely appropriate. LVG was handed a complete disaster courtesy of Moyes and did a decent job of rebuilding. Unfortunately, he conspired against himself with his absurdly conservative tactics that, at least in my mind, were a reaction to the Leicester City match last season. He had just let his players play football with a bit of joy he would have found that extra point somewhere and gotten back to the Champions League.

But we've discussed his failings enough already. He left United a stronger club than what he was given and for that we should thank the man and wish him well in retirement.
 
ManUtd1999 said:
I don't feel sorry for him because now he will become poor and homeless. He made enough cash well before joining us and will have plenty of money to spend any way post retirement.

I feel sorry because our contract with an established manager, in his final job, is being terminated. I feel sorry because he had to deal with very high expectations (natural at a club as big as Man United) and couldn't quite match these expectations. I feel sorry for him because for months and months he was trying to work while knowing that he might be fired the following morning. It's not easy to function this way. Almost everyone was against him and the way he ends his honorable career is not fitting even if it is completely justified from our point of view.

Oh, and I feel sorry that we got to this point where Manchester United, the team that was managed by the same person for 26 years, has sacked two managers in the space of 25 months.
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Very good post.
 
Also, he didn't like Neil Custis, which more than anything is testament to his good character.
 
Thank you Louis for:
- The FA Cup
- Two doubles over Liverpool
- The dive act
- Slapping Giggs around
- Some fine, odd and funny speeches
 
If, in 3-4 years we have Rashford, Martial, Fosu Mensah, Borthwick Jackson, Luke Shaw and Lingard/Blind (maybe...) all playing like beasts and perhaps even the likes of Schneiderlin/Herrera/Memphis finally playing like the players we thought we'd signed, and Smalling continuing to give the performances Van Gaal finally managed to draw out of him this season - LVG definitely deserves some thanks for helping build this team.
Even if he got them playing utter shite for a long time.

That doesn't even consider the FA Cup win which may be the catalyst to the club getting back to winning ways.
 
I created a thread in the newbies section thanking him for last 2 years, as all other threads were talking about his sacking, how poor he was etc. Thanked him for playing the youngsters (although could have played more of them in the final), the laughs he gave us like his theatrical fall on the touchline, and of course giving us the FA cup after so long without it. Felt sorry for him in the end that his little bit of success was overshadowed by the media speculation and leaks. Oh well at least the club appeared to treat him with some dignity even if the media and some fans didn't.
 
The outpour of 'pity' on here makes me sick.

Have pity for homeless people. Save your 'thanks' for underpaid, overworked Doctors & Nurses. Be sorry for the ill and infirmed.

Thanks to LVG? Thanks for buggering off with a £5m payout to add to your extortionate wages over the past 2 seasons, during which you failed miserably at almost every turn.
 
Didn't turn out as planned but he gave a lot of chances to youngsters that will hopefully make a difference in future.
 
iKeano said:
The outpour of 'pity' on here makes me sick.

Have pity for homeless people. Save your 'thanks' for underpaid, overworked Doctors & Nurses. Be sorry for the ill and infirmed.

Thanks to LVG? Thanks for buggering off with a £5m payout to add to your extortionate wages over the past 2 seasons, during which you failed miserably at almost every turn.
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You left out the soldiers.
 
caid said:
Just to play devils advocate ....
Do you think you could draw parallels between SAF's first FA Cup win and van gaal's?
A breakthrough of sorts buying him enough time to lay stronger foundations?
Where if we stuck with him and he continued to develop martial, rashford, lingaard, shaw, smalling, blind and told the rest to feck off to be replaced by players who would follow his plan
and we'd then be great with him adding finishing touches to the team between the rather good strikers (martial, rashford) and the solid defence (smalling, blind, de gea).

I know it was a very, very different time in football and the clubs fortunes in general.
Its pretty optimistic on him turning this team into much more than we've been watching for 2 years more or less too.
Just a romantic idea of football that disappeared from the rest of the football world decades ago but im just.not.used.to
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I can sort of see where you're coming from but no.

injuries pretty forced his hand in playing youngsters. he barely gave pereira chances despite the likes of depay underwhelming, pretty much dropped varela/TFM after their first bad games, barely gave CBJ a chance ahead of underperforming rojo. anyone who has functioning eyes would give martial chances. rashford and lingard fair enough, though latter hasn't exactly been great bar that final winner... also every new signing bar martial and schweini (who's perenially injured more than anything) performed much worse than they did at their previous clubs.
 
Cockney-Red said:
Part of me really still wished that he made that 4th spot and was given his final year of his contract.
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I almost felt that way too, but that's just pity talking after he won the cup and got the sack. You would reconsider that statement rather quickly by late September after the '75% possession, 0-0 draw, 1.5 shots on goal' games start piling up.
 
iKeano said:
The outpour of 'pity' on here makes me sick.

Have pity for homeless people. Save your 'thanks' for underpaid, overworked Doctors & Nurses. Be sorry for the ill and infirmed.

Thanks to LVG? Thanks for buggering off with a £5m payout to add to your extortionate wages over the past 2 seasons, during which you failed miserably at almost every turn.
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I don't think feeling sorry/thankful/pity for Van Gaal and feeling those same emotions for those mentioned in your somewhat melodramatic/cliched rant are mutually exclusive. But if that kind of thing really makes you sick, then I would suggest you stop reading football message boards.
 
Thank you Mr. van Gaal for saving a sinking ship left by Mr. Moyes. It was really that bad but you managed to turn it around (albeit not completely). Still a progress is a progress considering he shipped out most of the deadwoods, new players need time to gel in, and numerous injuries. I think the critical point that changed the course of the season was the really bad injury to Shaw. The story didn't end well but it would have been worse. Much worse with Mr. Moyes where the players couldn't even keep basic possession of the ball!
 
Thanks for teaching our players to play horny football. Too bad I fell asleep before they really got going.
 
iKeano said:
The outpour of 'pity' on here makes me sick.

Have pity for homeless people. Save your 'thanks' for underpaid, overworked Doctors & Nurses. Be sorry for the ill and infirmed.

Thanks to LVG? Thanks for buggering off with a £5m payout to add to your extortionate wages over the past 2 seasons, during which you failed miserably at almost every turn.
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I have pity on you for this post.

On a more serious note, no need to be a drama queen about it. Noone is shedding tears for him. Wishing he could have been a success, and being grateful for a few things he did, is only natural. Feeling "sickened" after reading posts on a forum is a bit less natural.

Also, by your logic why even feel passionate about football? Stop watching it and shut the forum down, people should be passionate about real issues like poverty alleviation and the cure of life threatening disease, not silly little things like football.
 
iKeano said:
The outpour of 'pity' on here makes me sick.

Have pity for homeless people. Save your 'thanks' for underpaid, overworked Doctors & Nurses. Be sorry for the ill and infirmed.

Thanks to LVG? Thanks for buggering off with a £5m payout to add to your extortionate wages over the past 2 seasons, during which you failed miserably at almost every turn.
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Pity and thanks aren't finite resources for most people.
 
horsechoker said:
This is why it's hilarious that people feel sorry for him. Yeah it's a shame it didn't work out but people are feeling sorry for him like he's been sent to a death camp
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:lol:

It's utterly ridiculous isn't it? I'm afraid I can't feel sorry for anybody that gets a multi million pound pay off. "Mr Van Gaal you've been dreadful and have failed the club. You're fired, but here's six million pounds to ease your suffering".
 
Thanks for the FA cup, and wins in big matches.
Thanks for all the unexpected afternoon naps brought on by your football.
Thanks for the endless "banter" we had to endure i.e the MK Dons/Cambridge/Middlesborough/Midjylland/5-3 goading.
Thanks for the brain workouts producted by trying to figure out why you brought Nick Powell on now, or why are you changing full backs when we are 1-0 down.
Thanks for the countless broken records such as losing 4 games in a row for the first time since '61 or losing back-to-back games to promoted teams for the first time in 69 years.
Thanks for demoralising and mismanaging the young players.

I could go on, and on, and on. There is plenty more that could be said about his reign that made Moyes look competent but its not good to dwell on the past. Enjoy the retirement money you utter charlatan.
 
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