Towards the end of my 45 minutes with Louis van Gaal his eyes lit up when our conversation turned to his great 1995 Ajax side. The sternness disappeared from the new Manchester United manager’s face as he pointed to his tactics board and recited the names in his young Champions League winning team of 19 years ago. He spoke of Edgar Davids and Clarence Seedorf and how his young stars from that era glided around the pitch as one. I had taken him back to his football heaven: young players, all products of his “philosophy”, performing in perfect synchronicity. “I actually played with 17-year-old players in a [Champions League] final,” he reminded me. “So don’t say to me that youngsters cannot play football. When you are fitting in a philosophy you can do a lot. And of course Seedorf was playing at 17 in a final. And Seedorf was a fantastic player. [Patrick] Kluivert was 18 – and he scored a goal.” The winning goal in a 1-0 victory over AC Milan. The first 20 minutes of our conversation had been a sermon to which I listened intently. I had five aims in mind on my first trip to my old training ground at Carrington for two years: 1, To listen to a great coach; 2, To ask what he has found out about United in the past five weeks; 3, To see what message he has for fans who are desperate for signings; 4, To discuss the big tactical change to 3-5-2; And 5, To learn what ambitions he has for United for the three years of his contract. The best-laid plans go out of the window. This was no old pals’ act. There I am, with my notebook of questions, walking towards the long table where Louis van Gaal sits. He is an imposing figure. The light is low. Only one person is going to be in charge of this interview and it’s not going to be me. This man is not going to be pushed. Once the informal conversation had ended I asked Van Gaal if we could chat in a more structured, journalistic way. “Chat? Not any more, because I have other work to do, also,” he said. I thought I was out on my ear. But he relented: “I never have secrets, so you can ask what you want.” As I leave he tells me: “Three- quarters of an hour is too much, normally.”
Posted on: Sat, 23 Aug 2014 07:19:28 +0000
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