Louis van Gaal: Admits he should have joined Tottenham

[Shadydan]

Well the likes of Pep and Mourinho are the ones who are truely exceptional. Van Gaal has had a generally successful career, but he is certainly not what we needed at the time. Poch turned out to be a brilliant fit for us. On paper so was AVB. Daniel Levy clearly wanted someone who was young enough to engage in a club development project, believe in youth development rather than big money signings and also had an attacking philosophy. All his picks were like that with the exception of Harry Redknapp perhaps - but even then it was under his reign that we grew as a club in many ways including the quality of our youth teams.

Well done Daniel Levy in my view. And thank goodness Van Gaal did not join us.

Not sure it deserves a well done to Levy, LVG is the one who turned us down

 

[Shadydan]

I posted this on 10 April 2014. Received a lot of “lol” and “wtf” ratings.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Louis_van_Gaal

What is it about this guy exactly that makes him this Messiah everyone perceives him to be? Look at his record.

He managed Barcelona in the late 90s and won stuff but fought with everyone. He failed to qualify with the dutch national team for the 2002 World Cup behind Ireland and Portugal. He then took Barcelona to within in 3 points of the relegation zone and left. He then joined Ajax and quit after internal conflicts. He joined a mid table dutch side AZ and won one trophy in 4 years. He took over Bayern Munich and after a slow start won the double in the first year. He was then sacked after another slow start in the second year. He is now the dutch national team manager.

Seriously wtf has this 62 year old guy done in the last 15 years to show that he can change the culture of a club from top to bottom. His career has been filled with internal conflicts, slow starts and a lack of results. We seem to be star struck because of his exotic name and his "I don't take crap from anyone" demeanor which doesn't seem to have worked anywhere. And now we want him to come to a new league which is the toughest in the world and to a club trying to breach the top 4? Sounds like a typical Spurs fck up waiting to happen. Fck him.

He won the champions league with Ajax 20 years ago!! In 1995! This was in a bygone area where you can have a team of young players to work with for a few years and mold them into a team. These days if a kid can tie his shoelaces by 5, a club will sign him up. Pressures by club Boards are unprecedented.

As for the titles in three leagues - one was dutch with AZ in his fourth year (Steve mclaren won it with twente in his third year to put that league into context), the German one was with Bayern Munich and that too after recruiting robben and having half the German national side at his disposal and la liga was in the late 90s. This guy is a spent force. He is living off past glories.

In simple terms he has won 1 dutch title, 1 German title and 1 German cup in the last 15 years of his career! He is anything but an upgrade.

I seriously do not know how he is going to improve us without spending loads of money. Can't see Levy giving him as much freedom as he tends to want. If we are going to recruit someone else, it has to be someone with premier league experience and success. I can't see anyone out there. The top 4 managers are booked. We are 5th. I don't want anyone below us. Harry maybe ? I don't know. But not Van Gaal

For me back a young tough passionate coach like Tim any day of the week. And people slamming Tim (and also Harry when he was in charge) for their "lack of education" and "lack of sophistication" and "lack of tactical awareness" - Harry got us into the top 4 twice and Tim's premier league results are the best of any Spurs manager. I couldn't care less where Harry and Tim come from - or how they present themselves - if they can keep doing that.

COYS!

Pretty sure you got those ratings because of the last paragraph

 

[rupsmith]

Pretty sure you got those ratings because of the last paragraph

Yeah true to a certain degree - I was just frustrated with the fancy names coming through and getting ripped apart. So have to be grateful to Dan Levy for identifying and appointing Poch.

My point was that if we had a guy who seemed to be getting fairly decent results in a short span of time, was familiar with the club and had the personality and guts to play young players (Kane, Bentaleb etc.), then why appoint someone like Van Gaal. I didnt know enough about other young managers like Poch who would fit the bill.

Tim was obviously not the perfect choice, but I was making the point that all the other fancy appointments were total screw-ups, so just go with someone who was close to home and seemed to be doing well .

 

[Locotoro]

The guys entire career is packed full of lows and sackings.

A career that most managers couldn't dream to have

 

[Maske2g]

It's amazing what people remember.

The squad he took from Moyes was diabolical. he finished 4th. They finished 6th the year before. The next year he won the FA cup. Then he was sacked.

Basically a manager who has won 20-30 trophies, leagues with 5 different clubs, champions league, and even at his worst moment as a manager, still won more than us in 28 years, and you all ridicule him.

He didn't have a great squad at barca btw compared to Madrid, still won the league.

 

[rupsmith]

It's amazing what people remember.

The squad he took from Moyes was diabolical. he finished 4th. They finished 6th the year before. The next year he won the FA cup. Then he was sacked.

Basically a manager who has won 20-30 trophies, leagues with 5 different clubs, champions league, and even at his worst moment as a manager, still won more than us in 28 years, and you all ridicule him.

He didn't have a great squad at barca btw compared to Madrid, still won the league.

I dont think anyone can deny that he has had a admirable career. The only point I have made is that he was not the right fit for us when he was approached.

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

A career that most managers couldn't dream to have

I guess if you only look a the titles and ignore how and where they were won, you'd be pretty satisfied.

I'd take what we have with Poch now, over having LVG for 2 season, an FA Cup and then him being sacked and us on our 2nd or 3rd manage since, picking up the pieces from the fall out.

 

[Maske2g]

I dont think anyone can deny that he has had a admirable career. The only point I have made is that he was not the right fit for us when he was approached.

I don't really have an opinion one way or the other. Fact is, we had a great young squad and he was a seasoned manager.

 

[TottenhamMattSpur]

When people commend him on his past glories, do they also commend the likes of Ron Atkinson, Howard Wilkins, Kenny Dalgliesh and George Graham?

 

[Locotoro]

I guess if you only look a the titles and ignore how and where they were won, you'd be pretty satisfied.

I'd take what we have with Poch now, over having LVG for 2 season, an FA Cup and then him being sacked and us on our 2nd or 3rd manage since, picking up the pieces from the fall out.

I'd agree. My preference, in hindsight, is Poch. (I won't lie, I was rooting for FDB) but I'm obviously happy with the choice.

I just disagree with the assessment of LVG's career. He was past his best when we went for him but he was still a very good manager in his time.

 

[Locotoro]

When people commend him on his past glories, do they also commend the likes of Ron Atkinson, Howard Wilkins, Kenny Dalgliesh and George Graham?

You're talking about managers who are on the whole unremarkable and comparing them to LVG is really an odd thing to do. Having said that, you still have to give credit where it's due because they all won titles. For any manager who can go through an entire season, especially with teams that were not all conquering (Kendall's Everton, Graham's Arsenal) you have to accept they set up their teams to win and they did the job. They may have been found out after a few seasons or so but it still deserves credit. There are hundreds of very decent managers who will not win titles.

It rarely happens that a team will win titles in spite of a manager's ability. The only example I can think of is DiMatteo's Chelsea and that is because they were playing the same system the rest of the season as they started.

 

[dontcallme]

I remember one of his interviews at Utd he spoke about the young players he'd bought and how the managers after him would benefit.

Seemed a good way to go at the time. Problem is none of them have really worked out at Utd.

Not going to slag him off but happy with who we got instead.

 

[Nine while nine]

It's amazing what people remember.

Indeed, all I really remember of Louis Van Gaal's reign at Manchester United is this event, but try telling people now that it happened and they just don't believe you...

 

[UbeAstard]

Remember him when he was trying to tempt Kane, saying 'Manchester United will always be bigger than Tottenham'. Now he saying he may have made a mistake going to that 'bigger' club as he is out of work.

 

[Spurslove]

Let me say first of all, I am ecstatically happy with the manager we have at the moment, and I hope he stays with us many years more.

However...

I wouldn't have given a flying shit if LVG had only been our manager for one season before getting sacked, if he could have made us Premier League Champions.

.