If any footy hasn’t heard about all the changes happening at Old Trafford, I’d say he’s been living in a cave! After days and days of waiting, the Manchester United (MUFC) fans can finally stop holding their breath; on 19th May 20014 at 2 p.m. UK time, Louis Van Gaal (LVG) has been officially appointed as MUFC’s new manager.

LVG, who has won titles with Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AZ Alkmaar, will take charge at Old Trafford after leading the Netherlands at this summer’s World Cup in Brazil. He has signed a three-year deal and will make Ryan Giggs his No 2, with Frans Hoek and Marcel Bout joining as assistant coaches.

LVG said: “It was always a wish for me to work in the Premier League. To work as a manager for Manchester United, the biggest club in the world, makes me very proud. I have managed in games at Old Trafford before and know what an incredible arena Old Trafford is and how passionate and knowledgeable the fans are. This club has big ambitions; I too have big ambitions. Together I’m sure we will make history.”

Giggs Number 2

We can’t not mention Ryan Giggs who has been appointed as LVG’s assistant. Ryan Giggs is hanging up his boots after an incredible 23-year playing career with United. Ryan Giggs with 963 appearances with MUFC, 13 Premier Leagues, 4 FA Cups, 4 League Cups, 9 Community Shields, 2 Champions Leagues, 1 Super Cup and 1 Club World Cup. And without any red card! He says: “Manchester United has been a huge part of my life and I’m delighted to be able to continue that relationship in such a key role.” Well, we all wish him good luck in his new role.

Wishlist

After the “Moyes DisasterM”, LVG will be expected to get his new club back into the Champions League and challenging for trophies as quickly as possible and for that he insists money will be no object as he aims to rebuild MUFC’s squad this summer. He has already submitted his wishlist to the club: Shaw, Hummels, Kroos, Robben, Fabregas, Muller, Reus, Benzema, Mangala and Dante.

However, with the £200m allocated for the summer window transfer and other clubs prolly bidding on those players, I don’t think MUFC will land them all. (I’m even positive they won’t land them all). While I’m writing this, my sources have reported that the signing of Luke Shaw is 95% complete. We’ll know soon enough. One thing is certain though, LVG’S aim is “to bring them (MUFC) back to the No 1 position as soon as possible, because that’s where they were under Sir Alex Ferguson”. That’s all the fans are asking for, Mr Van Gaal 🙂

Captaincy

Something that might not please all the MUFC fans is that LVG has heavily hinted that he plans to hand the captaincy of the club to his compatriot Robin Van Persie (RVP) and not to Wayne Rooney as it was expected.

This is totally my own opinion:

The problem with making RVP captain is he isn’t going to be available for every game. If he can keep fit then fair enough, but unfortunately this season he missed roughly half of the games because of injury. Plus, RVP has not been at Manchester United long enough to be made captain.

On the other hand, Rooney should be the captain considering his experience and loyalty to the club. Giving it to RVP would amount to sentiment and unmerited favor and can simply tear MUFC apart. Besides, it was stated in the recent contract given to Rooney under Moyes that he will be captain, it will be gross unfairness to Rooney should RVP be given the captaincy.

I know some won’t agree to that but this is how I see it.

Our Saviour?

To end this long post (sorry about that), I’d like to express some fears about appointing LVG as MUFC manager. Of course we fans, are all happy to have a coach with so much proven experience and let’s admit, after Moyes, it was difficult to do worse but I think the one thing that worries me about MUFC hiring LVG is that I’m afraid we will become like Tottenham, Fulham or even Chelsea. We can’t become a team that looks for short term manager solutions. And LVG never usually stays at one club for more than 3 or 4 years. If something goes wrong like it did for LVG at Barça, Bayern or Netherlands, then we will look to appoint another short term manager to get us out of the muck and start over and over again. And then what? Yes, we are back in that period we were in between the Busby and Fergie era!

Now readers, I have one question for you: Don’t you think it would be better to appoint a manager with the long term perspective now, and wait a little longer to get to the top and sign a few less superstars than we would get under LVG as long as it gives us a more likely chance of some stability?

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