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Louis van Gaal: I had a noose around my neck at Manchester United

by Marwan Harraz

Former Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal has broken his silence on his turbulent tenure, claiming he had a noose around his neck during his final months at the club.

The end of the Dutchman’s time at Old Trafford saw the recently sacked Jose Mourinho become endlessly linked with the managerial position.

Van Gaal’s own struggles in his second season in charge meant that the pressure was rising and the Portuguese manager started to become an option too good to pass up on.

Eventually reports surfaced that the former Bayern man was fired just moments after winning the FA Cup for United; something that still irks him to this day.

Even now some fans believe he should’ve been given more time to succeed and that progress was never going to be a straight line upwards.

According to the BBC, Louis said: “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 round 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 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.”

Even though Ed Woodward failed to act with Van Gaal, he never learnt his lesson and did the same with Jose.

The former Chelsea boss’ career with Manchester United was constantly questioned in his final months and the executive vice-chairman never publicly dismissed the reports.

Rumours claimed Mourinho was surprised he was dismissed as he felt he would be allowed to see out his contract.

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