Five Controversies That Marred The Success Of Louis van Gaal

Jan 18, 2017 at 8:56 PM

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Five Controversies That Marred The Success Of Louis van Gaal

One of the greatest personalities of the game of football, Louis van Gaal, was reportedly ready to quit the game and end his career as a manager.

The former Bayern Munich manager helped Manchester United to the FA Cup victory in the previous season but he was axed just 2 days later and was replaced by Jose Mourinho. Van Gaal has ever since been out of work and has finally decided to throw in the towel early this year.

Having managed some of the biggest clubs in Europe, Van Gaal, is easily one of the most respected managers in the sport and though his time at United was not very successful, he still stands as one of the most decorated managers in the history.

However, on Wednesday, the Dutchman himself revealed that he is not yet considering to end his relation with the game and denied any reports that he would retire. He revealed, “I thought it would be a sabbatical, but now I do not think I will return.”

It is good to see that he wants to stay strong but all has not been rosy for the 65-year old, who in his time, was involved in a number of controversies. Here are 5 such controversies that Louis van Gaal was involved in:

Gerard Pique:

The Dutch manager came to the limelight as a manager at the Camp Nou as he took the Catalan outfit to some memorable victories. He helped an influx of young talent to the senior side and was one of the most effective managers in Spain at that time. However, he was not exactly a saint as one Gerard Pique learnt when he was quite young. The Spanish defender is among the best in the business at the moment but when he was 14, Louis van Gaal, who met him in training was a bit too harsh. He pushed Pique onto the ground to prove that he was too weak for a defender. Van Gaal said Pique will never become a top class defender but surely, the jokes on him.

He is in charge:

The 65-year old is a confident man who loves to take charge of the entire club that he is working at. In all his previous stints as a manager, he was given full freedom to look into all the matters of a club and this has been with him right from the start of his coaching career. In his time at Bayern, he was constantly in feud with the club’s CEO Karl Heinz Rumminigge as he did not want the latter involved in any of the matters. Though LVG was successful, he was not a beloved man in Germany and Rumminigge said that LVG’s approach “won’t win him any friends.” Even at Ajax, when he was the technical director of the club, he was never too far away from controversy and his thirst for power has kept him a honest man.

LVG has the balls:

The Dutchman is not one to hide his emotions and most players who have played under him will attest to it. He is not shy of letting himself heard and his mindset often leads him to do some peculiar things. One such moment which was quickly on the news was the manager’s attempt to get his squad to listen to him. Working at the Allianz Arena, LVG was expected to take them to glory straight away but he had to make the whole squad play at their best to do so. He decided to drop senior players who were underperforming and one such player who was later banished was Luca Toni. The striker was never given a chance to prove himself before being sold to Roma in 2010 and Toni went on to say”The coach wanted to make clear to us that he can drop any player, it was all the same to him because, as he said, he had the balls. He demonstrated this literally [by dropping his trousers]. I have never experienced anything like it, it was totally crazy. Luckily I didn’t see a lot, because I wasn’t in the front row,” he added. Surely, it was one of the most controversial moments in the manager’s history.

Riquelme saga:

The Argentine was one of the most exciting players in the sport at a point of time but Louis van Gaal and his methods had a drastic say in his career. Juan Roman Riquelme joined Barcelona under Louis van Gaal from Boca Juniors in the form of his life, but the manager at the Camp Nou insisted that his signature was political and constantly left him out of his squad. He also played him needlessly on the wing, reducing his effect on the game. “You’re the best player when you have the ball, but when you don´t we play with one less,” the exact world Van Gaal told Riquelme on his arrival in Spain. LVG made sure that the Argentine was not given a proper chance to prove himself at Barcelona which all but ended his career.

The Ribery comments:

The Dutch manager helped German giants Bayern Munich to some important victories and he stands as one of the most successful managers for the club in recent times. However, he did not have a great relationship with most of the players in the team. LVG has always had a problem with big, established players, who he could not control. Though French international Franck Ribery is not of the naughty kind, he came to understand of the Dutchman in a short space of time. He revealed that though LVG is more than a decent coach that he is not a good man. The first contact with him was already poisoned. As a professional you lose your trust. He does great things on the pitch but the coach Van Gaal was a bad man. Our relationship was crushed,’ Ribery said a couple of years ago. This, till date, remains his biggest criticism from star players that he has managed over the years.

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