Manchester United manager Louis Van Gaal has revealed that he does nothing as the manager of the club, but instead, he simply gets paid to delegate tasks to other members of the coaching unit. The Dutchman made the shocking revelations during the annual League Managers Association event on Wednesday night. He was explaining how coaching has evolved over the past few years.
“I’m from a time where you [the manager] did everything,”
“Now I’m the manager and I have a sports science department, I have a scouting department, I have a medical department, I have assistant managers, I have assistant coaches. I don’t do anything … nothing! I delegate. I delegate and I earn a lot of money.’’
“Feedback is very important. But I have to say that because when I don’t say that then I’m arrogant.’’
“I am also an innovator and I have changed a lot. I was the first coach who was with a notebook. Now everybody is with a notebook. I was the first coach who used video.”
As expected, the 64-year-old tactician defended his philosophy by claiming that his former team Ajax won a European Cup while playing an attacking and expansive game.
Talking about the philosophy, he explained:
“We [Ajax] won everything with very attacking football. I don’t say it too much because otherwise Mr Scholes will be very angry!”
“When you see my press conferences, I’m discussing a lot my philosophy.’’
“It takes always a little bit of time to transfer the message. I’m training in the brain – a lot of things in the brain – because football is not a sport of legs, it is a sport of brain, and tactics. So, that takes a lot of time.”
In the recent past, there has been an exchange of words between the Red Devils boss and legendary player Paul Scholes over Manchester United’s new playing style. The former midfielder, who played his entire professional career for the Old Trafford-based side, has been quoted several times bashing the managers tactics, terming them as boring.
Van Gaal has managed 50 matches at United, won 50, drawn 13 and lost 10. Under his tutelage, the Red Devils have scored 79 goals and conceded 45 He has a 54% winning record after spending two seasons at United, having garnered a total of 94 points for the 20-time Premier League champions.
