Paul Parker takes a look at the reports that Louis van Gaal offered his resignation.
We'll never really know what happened between Louis van Gaal and Manchester United at the weekend. Did he resign? Didn't he? Was it rejected?
If he did, it's not exactly a very professional move on Van
Gaal's part. And if he did, Ed Woodward wouldn't have been very
professional if he'd accepted it - unless LVG had threatened to walk
regardless, that is.
The ultimate outcome was the right one, though, because now
isn't the time for the Dutchman to go. He has a job to finish; United
don't need further unrest, they need to get through to the end of the
season, get a top four finish, and then appoint a permanent, long-term
manager who can get the club where it needs to go.
In looking at who comes next, however, United have got all the
clues they need to make sure that they get it right this time. Because
Van Gaal has made some absolutely appalling mistakes which have
seriously jeopardised the future of Manchester United.
Quite simply, he's gone about the job in completely the wrong
fashion. He's too old school, and he's utterly failed to meet the
challenge of updating his methods to take into account what modern
footballers need.
Now, all that in itself is bad enough when you're trying to coax decent performances out of people, day in, day out.
But the bigger issue is that United will have serious problems
attracting the world's best players to come to Old Trafford.
When I moved to United, the power of the club alone was enough to convince me. Not any more. Now, it's about managers.
Players want to work with a manager who'll look after them and
nurture them; not one who'll flog them at training, order them around
like serfs and then publicly throw them under the bus if they don't
perform.
They're all rich, they all know that any club can pay them huge
wages - so why wouldn't they want to make sure they're happy as well?
Players talk to each other, and when an offer comes in they'll have no
problem finding someone already at the club to see what life is like.
And they're not going to put up with being treated badly, no matter how
much money they're offered.
Liverpool under Jurgen Klopp
are already seeing what a huge effect this can have. The results on the
pitch haven't improved, but I guarantee you that players will be
queuing up to move there. This is a man who won a reputation for turning
water into wine in Germany, who took a largely-ignored club and made it
an international brand with a reputation for cool.
And players aren't stupid: yes, the results haven't come yet,
but they'll all know full well the hand that Klopp was dealt when he
turned up, and the injuries that his squad has suffered. They'll see
beyond that - and see a man who can make them part of football history,
just as he did for Borussia Dortmund. They were overshadowed for years by the likes of Bayer Leverkusen and Werder Bremen; now people talk about Dortmund and Bayern as if they're discussing Real and Barca.
That's the kind of thing which will get players excited to make a
move, and to make their mark. At United, meanwhile? They'd be wary of
joining a club with a ferocious manager who'll think nothing of tearing
strips off them; they'd fear being tainted as part of a side that is
playing dire, dull football despite hundreds of millions invested;
they'd fear lining up in a once-great team that is not just getting
beaten, but getting utterly dominated even at a home ground that was
once a fortress.
Van Gaal has to do his part before he goes, and he ought to want
to fix things. Whenever I was in a team that played badly, we were
always desperate for the next match to come around so that we could put
things right. United most hope LVG is desperate to turn things around,
to make sure that he can leave United without a blot on his CV and with
his head held high - and he won't get that by walking away now. A top
four finish and a dignified walk into the sunset is the best he and
United can hope for right now.
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