The fact that a comment that LVG made as he got on the team bus on Sunday morning grabbed the headlines after Manchester United had just ended a huge 12 year wait and won the FA Cup said so much about what was about to happen at Old Trafford. The writing was on the wall for Louis van Gaal, when he responded to a Sky Sports News reporter’s wishes of “Good Luck” with an “it’s over” reply. The nail in the coffin was that the club later said LVG’s comment was in response to the fact that the season is over. For the club to actually address it showed that they were on damage limitation and wanting to keep things quiet until they could make things official on Monday of van Gaal and his staff’s departure.
As the BBC reported Chief Executive Ed Woodward had some good things to say about the Dutchman: “He leaves us with a legacy of having given several young players the confidence to show their ability on the highest stage,”. Let’s face it the reason that ultimately cost LVG his job was the boring non-United style of play. He simply did not score enough goals and whether the notorious “whatever tactics it takes to win matches” strategies which can include very negative play used by Mourinho will satisfy the United faithful remains to be seen. Van Gaal was disappointed to not be completing his 3 year deal but after his expenditures and the poor results they delivered the writing was on the wall pretty much since United fell from the top 4 and Mourinho was waiting in the wings.
With the appointment of Mourinho seemingly a formality many bookies including William Hill have reduced the price of United winning their first Premier League championship in four years from 7/1 to 6/1, although they still sit behind the three favourites of City at 7/4 and London giants Arsenal and Chelsea both at 9/2.