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20 teams in 20 days – Manchester United

By on August 7, 2014

Manager: Louis Van Gaal
Stadium: Old Trafford
Nickname: The Reds
Finish Last Season: 7th

If you judge a book by its cover, then David Moyes seemed like the perfect man to take over for Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United last season. After many successful years in charge of Everton, even Ferguson himself handpicked the Scot as United’s next long term manager. Immediately, as a tell-tale sign United bought into Moyes, was the five-year contract he signed. But in charge of United, Moyes struggled. Not even a year into that five-year contract, he was sacked.

At first glance, Louis Van Gaal does not look to be a manager that fits in at United. With a history of bust ups between himself and many other key figures at his former clubs, and the fact that he had spent his previous twenty-three years in management in seven different tenures. But look back at that career, and the Dutch manager lead Ajax through one of the most successful periods in the clubs history all the way to a Champions League title, Barcelona to several titles, Bayern Munich to the start of their period of European dominance, and the mess that was a Dutch national team in 2012 to a third placed finish at the World Cup this summer. When Ferguson was expected to retire after the 2001/2002 season, Van Gaal was reportedly close to replacing the legend before Ferguson decided against retiring after all. The main reason behind Van Gaal skipping from club to club is because of him breaking up with his clubs management.

But at United, he may take over at just the right time. After Ed Woodward’s poor performance taking over for David Gill as the club’s executive vice-chairman, the Brit won’t have the backing himself to endure a bust up with Van Gaal. Of course, that is if Van Gaal is even relatively successful. The Dutchman may inherit a team that finished seventh in the league last season, but a the clubs owners will be willing to spend a lot more than they allowed Moyes to to ensure their team goes right back up to the top. Already, Van Gaal has proved himself in the transfer market at his former clubs, and with the signing of Luke Shaw and Ander Herrera already done, he is likely to be continuously backed by his superiors.

And by all means, the squad Moyes left him is certainly up to the task of a top three or four finish with some holes patched up; plus, hardly any cannot be with the funding he has and will be given – according to Woodward, the club are prepared to break the transfer record. Already, Shaw and Herrera have been brought in to fill those gaps, and Thomas Vermaelen is been rumored to be close to a move to Old Trafford. And even with Juan Mata, Wayne Rooney, Adnan Januzaj, and Robin Van Persie, he has relatively low expectations off the back of Moyes – but a wealth of talent, and backing, as the players will likely follow his lead if it provides some level of success. With that, Van Gaal can easily thrive as the clubs manager, the one thing he claims he absolutely needs is for the players to 100% follow his lead. When they don’t, that is where he tends to get sacked.

Yet at United he enters in a situation fitting for his type of management. Not one with boatloads of cash at a club miles ahead of the pack, one which would suit many others, rather a big club in search of leadership that he likes to take control of.

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.