Louis Van Gaal is direct with his responses and is not the warm and fuzzy type of English media darling Jose Mourinho - Paul Blank photo

Ryan Giggs knows the mentality of his Manchester United teammates. The question is should Louis Van Gaal be appointed the next Man U manager would Giggs be retained as an assistant coach? - James Adams photo

SPORTS NOTES - LOUIS VAN GAAL ATTACKS ENGLISH MEDIA

James Loving/National Radio Text Service

Netherlands's national team manager Louis Van Gaal is not going to be the warm and fuzzy type of the English media darling Jose Mourinho. On two occasions he has challenged the Brit scribes pointing out they were uninvited to his national team press conference and called out a BBC reporter stating that his question was STUPID

Thursday, May 15, 2014

VAN GAAL IS NOT WARM & FUZZY

Netherlands national team manager Louis Van Gaal has fired his warning shots pertaining to, if the English media thinks he's going to be a warm and fuzzy clone of their fair haired media darling Jose Mourinho they are sadly mistaken.

On two recent occasions Van Gaal has verbally attacked members of the English press. Episode one was when a reporter asked him what he knew about Manchester United, the team he has been mentioned as being their next manager. Van Gaal fired back that it was a STUPID question. He went on the say it was the biggest football club in the world and dismissed the journalist with a scowl.

At a press conference for his national team's participation in the World Cup, the 62-year-old Dutchman noted that there were four uninvited members of the English media present. He acknowledged that he mentioned four words to them which resulted in 60 pages (published). Apparently Van Gaal doesn't appreciate the English media's aggressive approach. Given the events that precede any announcement that he will be appointed the next Man U manger it's obvious that if hired he will be a no nonsense handful for the English digging for dirt media types.

This is the second time around for Van Gaal to be mentioned as possibly being appointed as the Man U manager. Following his first stint as the manager of the Netherlands national squad when he stepped down as its manager on 31 January 2002 he was replaced by Dick Advocaat. At that time speculation began that Van Gaal would succeed Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United once Ferguson claimed that he would retire that year. According to Van Gaal, Ferguson decided against retiring and the deal fell through.

There is no question that Van Gaal is worth of being the next manager of rebuilding Man U. His track record of his ability to handle big clubs and big egos speaks for itself. He's been a winner from the time he started his managing career while in his late 30's. He has been successful with stints at Ajax (1991-1997), Barcelona (1997-2000), Netherlands (2000-2002), Barcelona (2002-2003), AZ (2005-2009) and Bayern Munich (2009-2011). Since 2012 he has been managing the Netherlands national squad that is preparing for the World Cup.

Most importantly Van Gaal has won the holy grail of International football at the onset of his managing career by winning the much coveted Champions League with Ajax. Ajax captured the UEFA Cup in 1992 and the UEFA Champions League in 1995 after beating Milan in the final. The latter win was followed by a 5-1 aggregate win over Real Zaragoza in the 1995 UEFA Super Cup. Late in 1995, Ajax beat Brazilian side Grêmio on penalties to win the Toyota Cup (formerly Intercontinental Cup).

Ajax was so successful under Van Gaal's leadership that during the 1990s, the Dutch national team was dominated by Ajax players such as Patrick Kluivert, Marc Overmars, Dennis Bergkamp, Frank and Ronald de Boer, Edgar Davids, Clarence Seedorf, Winston Bogarde, Michael Reiziger, and Edwin van der Sar.

School remains out of how much a possible hiring of Van Gaal would make a difference on United turning the corner and returning to the dominate ways of winning football games. The question then would be would he reach out for the assistance of the clubs interim manager at the end of this season and standout player Ryan Giggs. One of the criticisms of David Moyes was that he failed to retain any of Alex Ferguson's back room staff to enable a more fluid transition in taking the helm of the most popular club with fans around the world.

Giggs faired reasonably well during his four match stint while being in charge of United finishing with a 2-1-1 record. That included a 4-0 result in his first fixture in charge against the now relegated Norwich City. That result was followed with a 1-0 loss to Sunderland, a 3-1 win against Hull City and then closed out the season with a 1-1 draw against Southampton. One could say it wasn't the toughest competition but it was good enough for Giggs to get his feet wet on the managerial scene.

His experience could be an asset for Van Gaal given that Giggs knows the personalities of the returning players which in retrospect Moyes failed to do which helped in his downfall. Today CNN Sports reported that Giggs made a trip to the Netherlands to meet with Van Gaal regarding being considered for an assistants position. CNN also reported that Van Gaal agreed to a two year deal with incentives to take over the Red Devils job. Should Van Gall be appointed the next manager of the Red Devils for the English media it is certain that he will be a handful. If the English media are looking for something warm and fuzzy then they would fair better picking up on a baby chicken... NOT VAN GAAL. Stay tuned…

ULTIMATE FIGHTER - 19 - PENN vs. EDGAR

TONIGHT!!! If you're a fight fan a show worth watching is the new season of Ultimate Fighter. Series 19 features teams coached by Frankie Edgar and B.J. Penn. There is some serious talent in this cycle most notably Eddie Gordan who trains with UFC middleweight champion Chris Weidman. The series which is in progress airs tonight Thursday in Southeast Asia with repeats throughout the week on the Fox Sports channel.

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