Manchester United are currently in the process of looking for a new manager and the Manchester Evening News understands that Erik ten Hag has been interviewed for the role. Nothing has yet been rubber-stamped and the club are keen to assess all options available before making a final decision.
Amid the speculation over who will be appointed, former United manager Louis van Gaal was asked for his opinion on the Ajax boss potentially joining his old club, and the Netherlands head coach was as blunt in his response as you'd expect. “I think Erik ten Hag is a great coach, he has shown that several times," he said. "And a great coach is always good for United.
But in terms of whether he would advise Ten Hag to join United, he added: “Manchester United is a commercial club and those are difficult choices for a coach. It is better to go to a football club. I'm not going to supervise his career and he will call me himself. But he should choose a football club, not a commercial club.”
READ MORE: Louis van Gaal urges Erik ten Hag to reject Manchester United manager offer
Van Gaal has often been vocal about his issues with his former club. In an interview with BBC Sport in 2019, he claimed that his FA Cup triumph just days before his sacking was like 'winning a trophy despite having a noose around [his] neck for six months'. His rocky relationship with Ed Woodward will have undoubtedly fuelled this feeling.
He said about the former United chief in the very same interview: "What I don't like is Woodward contacting my successor, knowing in his mind he will replace me and he keeps his mouth shut for six months. Every Friday I had to go into press conferences and be asked what I thought about the rumours. What does that do to the authority of the coach?
"To win the FA Cup when, for six months, the media has a noose around my neck, is my biggest achievement. I spoke to Woodward the day after that game. His argument was that I was only going to be there for one more year and [Jose] Mourinho would be there for three, four or five. I appreciate he hired a private plane to get me back to Portugal but his arguments were not good enough."
The dishonesty that Van Gaal is referring to is the fact that Woodward reportedly contacted Mourinho around time December with a view to him replacing the Dutchman, regardless of what he had achieved come the end of the season. His comments paint a picture of a club that was in disarray and making decisions that didn't make sense. The issue is not that he has come out and said these things publicly, it's the fact that he's right.
Woodward had his priorities all wrong and it showed in the club's decision-making. Nothing proved this more than his statement during a stakeholder call in 2018 when he said: "Playing performance doesn't really have a meaningful impact on what we can do on the commercial side of the business."
Given he was asked whether he thought poor performances could impact the club's finances, his response wasn't great. Football is a game of emotion and fans did not take kindly to his comments.
If you were a manager linked with a move to United, would you want to come to a club that could hinder your chances of success before your tenure had even started? Fans need to remember this was Van Gaal's reality and this is what he is trying to warn Ten Hag about.
This image that Van Gaal has spoken about is something that United need to move away from under Richard Arnold. They need to start acting like a football club that prioritises what happens on the pitch first and then the rest should follow.
Arnold and United have already taken steps to move towards this; bringing in John Murtough and Darren Fletcher. Ralf Rangnick has also been brought in, first as interim boss before moving into a consultancy role in the summer.
United are also looking to invest in Old Trafford and their training facilities, as well as planning to bring in data specialists to help with their recruitment. It's not perfect, but there could be a serious shift away from the image that Van Gaal has of the club. Hopefully, these changes will create an environment that Ten Hag or any other manager can succeed in.
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