Louis van Gaal: Manchester United is my last job in football and I will go out at the topExclusive interview: Manager reveals his amazing journey to the 'world's biggest club' and what lies behind his extraordinary Old Trafford philosophy
Into the light: Louis van Gaal has revealed Manchester United will be his last job in football - and he wants to go out on a high Photo: Dave Thompson/Route One Photography
By Henry Winter, Football Correspondent
5:07PM GMT 19 Mar 2015
Louis van Gaal is one of the most acclaimed managers of the modern era, a Champions League winner and deep thinker about the game, a success at Ajax, Barcelona, AZ Alkmaar and Bayern Munich, a coach who guided the Netherlands to the semi-finals of the World Cup in Brazil, who is now reviving Manchester United. Often depicted as haughty, the Dutchman is one of the most fascinating individuals in football, with far more emotional hinterland than perceived, and his story is compelling.
His story begins in Amsterdam. His father was a senior manager in an energies company, showing the work ethic that defines his son’s career. “My father was going away at 7am and coming back at 7pm,’’ recalled Van Gaal, talking on Monday at Carrington. Tragically, his father suffered a heart attack, triggering a long decline. “I was six or seven when he was ill, and going to the hospital. I was 11 when my father died, so I didn’t know my father so well.”
The youngest of nine children, Van Gaal admitted he had to “fight” for attention, and his competitive streak, as well as footballing talents, were honed in street games, “playing 3 v 3 with my brothers”. When he scored, Van Gaal would shout “Henkie, Henkie” after his idol of the late Sixties. “I was a fan of Henk Groot, former striker of Ajax, who scored many goals with his head. I thought ‘I can do that also’ but I couldn’t.
“I was a football fanatic. I watched every game. When I was young, about 10, I was a great fan of Tottenham Hotspur, and a great fan of Jimmy Greaves.
"Unbelievable. It was on our television! The FA Cup! At that time there were not many football matches on television. I watched Tottenham and of course United, George Best, Bryan Robson and after that David Beckham. But as a boy I was more a fan of Tottenham Hotspur. I’m sorry to say that! Nice white shirt!
“Real Madrid with Di Stefano is also white. But then later I was for Barcelona because a lot of Dutchmen were there: Rinus Michels was also coach of Barcelona, Johan Cruyff also coach and player of Barcelona. Johan Neeskens was there too.”
Cruyff and Neeskens graced that glorious Ajax side of the early 70s. Van Gaal, a creative midfielder often used as an attacker, was in Ajax’s second team while also studying to become a teacher at the Academy of Physical Education. “I was a slow player. I was too slow for the top. That’s why I have to think very quickly. The basis of my confidence is that I wasn’t a talented player. I was a talented human being. At school, I always had good figures. I was the captain of all my football teams. I studied physical education at the Academy, so I learned to analyse, to observe, and to take decisions.”
That served him well as a player, at Royal Antwerp, Telstar, Sparta Rotterdam and Alkmaar before this stellar managerial career which has taken him through three countries and now to England. “It is an honour and a challenge to be coach of United because I was trainer-coach of No 1 (team) in the Netherlands, No 1 in Spain and No 1 in Germany. I had a choice to be manager of different clubs (like Spurs). I have chosen the No 1. I am very proud. I don’t think there are many other coaches who can say that.
“I’ve set always goals. Everything that I’ve reached I’ve set in advance - that I go to the Premier League for example. I said it a year before (the World Cup) to my federation, and everybody was ‘aghhh, it is not possible’. I said: ‘I go after the championships’. One experience in the world championship is, for me, enough.”
So here he is in England, being impressed with the amount of respect bestowed on managers here. Nearly two hours after the FA Cup loss to Arsenal at Old Trafford on March 9, around 50 United fans were waiting near the players’ entrance. Van Gaal stopped as he walked to his car, and spent time talking, signing autographs and indulging the many photograph requests.
“I go from the pitch after Arsenal and, of course, there are some yelling at me, but most applaud - in spite of the defeat.”
They respect him. “It is also for the manager of Manchester United. I hope also for me - but you never know! I like it very much because I never had that experience. At Barcelona, the handkerchiefs were there. In Amsterdam, they are whistling. Also in Munich, they are whistling when you have a defeat. But here, applause.”
He quickly became familiar with the huge size of United’s support during pre-season. “We were in the USA and we played against Real Madrid, Liverpool, Roma, Inter Milan and LA Galaxy, five matches in three weeks, 300,000 fans and I think 280,000 of them in a red shirt. I know that Manchester United is the biggest club of the world.”
Bigger than Real? “Yes. In terms of global appeal, not history.
“I made a trip with my wife through the world when I had a sabbatical year and I was in China and Hong Kong and such football madness in those countries! They recognise me everywhere. Unbelievable. And they know Manchester United much more than the manager.”
He was not aware that his name carried great weight in England. “No, I didn’t know that. I was lucky that I had such a good role in the world championship.”
He then scrolled through his record against English clubs. “Always going through. I have played here against Manchester United and we were always through. Also Aston Villa, we were through, as a player, also through. As a trainer-coach against Newcastle United with AZ Alkmaar - through.”
Many here tuned in to Ajax’s 1995 Champions League final triumph over AC Milan in Vienna, increasing respect. “We won two times against AC Milan,’’ recalled Van Gaal of the group stage. “I thought it would not happen a third time but it did. It was not our best match, the final, it was a pity but we won.”
The final strengthened Van Gaal’s reputation as a coach who could change a game’s flow with his substitutions and tactical tweaks.
He started with Ronald de Boer up front. “It is not only that he has to score but he has to be an attacking (focal) point. Wayne (Rooney) is also an attacking point and he scores. That’s why I put Ronald de Boer in the line-up. After 65 minutes, I want to win. I have to change something.
"So Clarence Seedorf out (after 53 minutes). Jari Litmanen out (after 70). He (Litmanen) was one of the best players and scorers of the team but he doesn’t touch the ball many times in that match. I put in Kluivert, 18, and Kanu, 18, on the pitch in a Cup final and Kluivert scored.”
From Ajax to Barcelona and Bayern, Van Gaal has always given youth a chance. “Xavi, Iniesta, Alaba, Badstuber, Puyol - I helped them all,’’ said Van Gaal, who could also have mentioned Thomas Muller and Thiago Motta. “First, they have talent. Second, they have talent in their character as human beings. Third, you have to select always (new blood) through every season. You have to stimulate your team spirit. That I have done this season. That’s why they (United) have taken me. They made inquiries about how I work.”
Paddy McNair, Tyler Blackett, James Wilson and Andreas Pereira have all been assessed in first-team combat and Van Gaal intends taking some of the other younger players on pre-season tour in July. “When you hold (keep) all the same players, nothing changes. You need young players. You need also talent, and personalities. Sometimes you have to buy youngsters.”
The potential of Xavi and Iniesta demanded their selection. “I saw their talent. (Pep) Guardiola was injured and Xavi came in, played very good in the position of Guardiola. For him and for me, it was clear. I am always clear with my expressions, individually with the players. And then he (Guardiola) goes away to Italy.”
He is no managerial martinet. “When I make a decision, it is not ‘my’ decision. I take the decision for the group and my staff. I’m not cold. I’m very warm to all my players.”
He is cold in his clear-eyed decision-making, though. “Yes, then I can be cool because I have to measure risk. I am interested in my players, not only in the player that kicks the ball from A to B, but also in their family, their wife, their kids.”
That is why he has shown such compassion to Angel di Maria, whose family house was recently burgled. “Yes. I try to show (more compassion). I can give him a lot of days free.”
Van Gaal is aware on his reputation for arrogance. “Yes. It’s not a Dutch thing. It’s because of my stature, my expressions, because I have big confidence in myself and in my players, that’s my charisma. In the Netherlands that is negative but charisma is positive. Arrogant is negative; it’s implicit that you don’t respect the opinion of another. I’m not like that. I have the feeling that the fans love me. But you never know. It always depends at the end on results.”
His sights are set on the Champions League and Premier League. “That’s our goal, yes, and it depends on how we end this season. We have to qualify for the Champions League and we have many tests next year. That also develops the level of your team, and of course how many players can come in to improve our selection.”
Van Gaal was talking in the Jimmy Murphy Centre at Carrington shortly after conducting a Q and A with United supporters organised by Barclays, the Premier League sponsors. Luke Shaw came in first, sitting in a swivel chair, testing its mobility in classic teenager fashion, and dealing well with the fans’ questions.
As Shaw signed autographs at the end, Van Gaal marched in on cue at 3pm. He spoke for 15 minutes with the supporters, talking of how adeptly Michael Carrick “reads the games” and how David de Gea was his United player of the year. The fans listened intently.
As well as having this aura, the 63-year-old exuded a rigorous organisation. In a side-room away from the fans, the former Dutch national coach politely requested that this interview finish at two minutes before 4pm to give him the necessary time to walk back to his office for his next appointment.
He is the Clockwork Oranje, a coach with a meticulous attention to detail as seen with his approach to games such as the 3-0 victory over Spurs the preceding day.
“The preparation starts with the scout, Paul Brand, who is analysing the opponent, who selects all the images with Marcel Bout, the (opposition) scout. Marcel Bout is always going (to watch the opposition) two weeks in front of the game, because then we are playing the same circumstances, at home or away.
"Then Ryan Giggs is making a presentation for the players out of the images that Marcel Bout and Paul Brand have selected. Then we make a game-plan because of the analysis. Then we discuss the game-plan.
“The next day we have to present it to the players. Giggs is doing that. So, another meeting with the players. They have to look. We explain. Then we go and train the game-plan 11 against 11. Ryan Giggs is coaching the opponent. He has analysed them.
"Albert Stuivenberg has to coach my team. Then we practise different patterns. We film the training session. The next meeting is the ‘unit meeting’: we do defenders, midfielders and forwards. Albert has selected the images of the training but also former matches that explains more of our game-plan.”
So much detail. “The set-plays! I forgot the set-plays! Also 25 minutes. Also a meeting. Also I’m checking. Frans Hoek, the goalkeeper trainer, is doing that. Then we pick up the players who have to cover (mark) the players. 25 minutes.
“In the hotel we have a meeting – again - to give consciousness (understanding) to what we have to do. Then we have individual meetings. I especially have individual meetings with the players, in the hotel or in my office here. Not with every player - it depends on how they train, how they perform.
“Then the match is coming. I don’t say anything, only one sentence before the match. Then half-time I say what we have to change, or what we have to improve, or I don’t say anything because it was very good. It happens. The day after the match, Albert Stuivenberg has to select video clips again of the match. Then we evaluate the match. I go through the match with Albert.
“Then we have the evaluation. I was just coming now out of a meeting with my players. The evaluation is more long because there are more themes but the analysis is 20 minutes, 25 minutes sometimes. Again a meeting with the players. The staff have to work very hard. The players too. They are not used to that. Most players are intuitive. I want it more with consciousness (awareness) that they are thinking, that they can make decisions on the pitch.They have to think for the team.’’
It is a learning process. “When I drive my car for the first time in England it is the same, I have to think about the left and the right. That we have seen with United. Yesterday against Spurs you have seen that. That shows they can do things together as a team. That takes time. In Germany (at Bayern), it took until December. And now until March (with United).
“My philosophy is when you know what you’re doing, you’ll continue more at the highest level. When you’re instinctive you’re always dependent on the circumstances. That I don’t want.’’
Wayne Rooney has always been perceived as an instinctive player yet Van Gaal praised his captain’s receptiveness and footballing intelligence. “He’s very open to learn. It’s amazing. I don’t know if he speaks with his wife Coleen about football, I don’t think so. But we have the process of talking here. Most of my players of my selection are open and that’s very nice.
“Carrick is more or less a trainer-coach. He is also willing to talk about shapes and systems. That’s nice. Rooney also. Not every player is very open and then you have to convince him, and then you get a struggle. It works or it doesn’t work. Give them time. Also give me time to do it.”
Van Gaal hails from a country of many thoughtful footballing people. “We are stubborn. You know what you believe in - all the Dutch are like that. I coached in the Netherlands for more than 15 years and in the Netherlands the players always say ‘yes…but’ and then comes their own opinion. In England, Germany and Spain they are never saying ‘but’. They are doing. They are performing. But then I have the problem that they are not thinking.
“I want my players thinking, reading the game, so they know why they have to change the shape because of something. I want to train my players so that they can make decisions themselves as a team. Otherwise they have to wait until half-time and then maybe we can change something. In a lot of matches that is too late.”
His players in Brazil embraced the manager’s commands so much that the goalkeeper Jasper Cillessen even accepted being replaced by Tim Krul for the shoot-out against Costa Rica. “Tim Krul has a very big reach,’’ explained Van Gaal, stretching his arms out. “It was also psychological because of the effect it would have on the opposition. Such a man in the goal would make them afraid.” Cillessen understood the team’s demands. “He knows that we know he’s not so good at stopping penalties. We are thinking about professional attitudes.’’
The Dutch were simply focused on the victory, on progressing. “We think that our philosophy can win the game. In England, they are not used to that. That’s why it is taking much more time here. But the mentality of my players is unbelievable. After such a defeat against Arsenal, which we lost ourselves, then you can give a show like that (Sunday’s vanquishing of Spurs).”
That victory was graced by a fine goal from Rooney, who celebrated with a flurry of air-punches, mocking stories of his being knocked over while boxing in his kitchen. Van Gaal has quickly become aware that many in English football, including the media and fans, are more fascinated by personality rather than philosophy. “That’s true. When you read the papers today, it is a lot about Rooney and not about the fantastic performance. Maybe too much attention to Rooney and the boxing and not to the performance of the team, and the performance of a lot of other players who played very well.”
Van Gaal is still becoming acquainted with the English media’s focus on famous individuals. “I’m told to give more compliments to my players. I want to give compliments to my team. Not every player is confident. Of course when the media is saying ‘fantastic’, they like it, but they know also that the next week the media can write ‘it was awful’.
“What the father, agent or manager is saying is much more important for the player. Sometimes we have to build up their confidence. I’ve helped a lot of players in my career, also psychologically, to speak in public. You have seen Shaw, 19 years old, just now. It’s not so easy speaking in public but he did it well.”
For all the opinionated, obdurate image, Van Gaal clearly has very human qualities. “I am the most flexible manager you can imagine. When the players are coming with good arguments, I change my opinion.” He listens to players? “Yes.”
On tactics? “Yes. They need to have very good arguments. It is not so easy to convince me - that’s true. But when you convince me I change my opinion.”
Did United’s players convince him to abandon three at the back? “Three in the back, no. Most of the players here think the manager is deciding that (change). I ask also the players which system they want to play. And then I ask individual players: ‘What’s your favourite position?’ First they don’t want to answer but now they are more open, and they answer.” Do they all say 4-4-2? “No. The fans are shouting it. I have played it but that was to do with accidental circumstances.
“The system we play now is the system that I prefer, that I have played everywhere. Yesterday (against Spurs) is my preferred system. When it is needed, then I play with five at the back. Yesterday was 4-3-3 when we had the ball. For example, Juan (Mata) more inside and (Ashley) Young outside. When we defend it was more 4-1-4-1 yesterday. Next game is different.”
The next game is Liverpool away. “For our cook, Mike Donnelly, it is THE game! We have won already two times (against them, including pre-season) this year. But there we don’t win so often.” He loves such rivalries. “The Clasico is also amazing. In my time at Barcelona, 120,000 people were there, also standing in places. Bernabeu 70,000! That time that Luis Figo changed clubs!”
When Barcelona fans threw a pig’s head on to the pitch in protest at Figo returning with Real. “Yes. The Spanish Clasico are also fantastic. But here also. The only classic in the Netherlands is Ajax-Feyenoord. It is not so pleasant any more because of the hooligans. So now they are forbidden to go away in the Netherlands. I think it is a good measure.”
From the Netherlands to Spain and Germany, Van Gaal has enjoyed a feted career which he wants to conclude with a final flourish at United. After that he will spend proper time with his family. He has two daughters from his first wife, Fernanda, who passed away from pancreatic cancer in 1994 while he was managing Ajax, meaning that the first league title he secured in Amsterdam that year will always be “the most emotional for me”.
He became soulful when reflecting on his plans, on his desire to be with his second wife Truus, eventually retiring to the Algarve. “My wife wants to quit now already! Five years ago! I’m not married to my job. Of course, I am 24 hours a manager, but I am also 24 hours a father of my children, grandfather of my grandchildren and I am always 24 hours lover of my wife. I am married to my profession, more than with her. I see my PA more than my wife.
“I have a paradise in Portugal. I want to quit to go there, play golf, eat fantastic food. There are very good wines in Portugal. There is the beach, the very beautiful weather. I don’t want to travel. Everyone wants to touch my body in the airports; it is always peeping because I have an artificial hip. I am the only one who has been controlled every time when we fly. I don’t like it. It’s better to sit down in my – our – paradise.
“I am also old. This is my last job. For sure. I have to pay attention to my kids, my grandchildren but also to my wife. They deserve it. Now I cannot pay that attention. I was not at the birthday of my grandson for example. I don’t like it.” His family is proud of him. “Of course but they miss a lot.” Family man, football man, Louis van Gaal is a very impressive man.
Louis van Gaal was speaking at a Barclays event to inspire the next generation of fans to fall in love with football. To win Barclays Premier League tickets and other football experiences search: Barclays Spirit of the Game.
www.telegraph.co.uk/sport/football/teams/manchester-united/11483566/Louis-van-Gaal-Manchester-United-is-my-last-job-in-football-and-I-will-go-out-at-the-top.htmlEnjoyable.
