‘Not a football club' – Former Man Utd boss launches scathing attack on old side while heaping praise on bitter rivals
LOUIS VAN GAAL has launched a stunning broadside on former club Manchester United.
The Dutchman was in the Old Trafford hot seat between 2014 and 2016.
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Van Gaal, 73, won a solitary FA Cup during his tenure as United boss.
And he's been watching their horror 2024/25 season from afar with interest.
The Red Devils finished without silverware last term, languishing 15th in the Premier League.
Co-owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe - who has embarked on controversial cost-cutting across the club - employed Ruben Amorim midway through the season to stop the rot.
But results continued to slide under the former Sporting Lisbon chief.
Van Gaal told Sky Sports:"It is still a commercial club.
"It is not a football club. I have said that before - and that's always difficult."
The 73-year-old believes United will never find success unless Amorim is given the chance to choose his own players.
He continued: "When [it's] not the manager deciding which player has to come, it's very difficult.
"I think that is the way it should be.
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"Because then you can fire the manager because he's not getting results.
"When other people buy the players, then you have a problem.
"You need to have the knowledge [of the manager] because he has to train them."
Van Gaal also begged United chiefs to "pay attention" to the way Premier League champions Liverpool are operating under Arne Slot.
He added: "Arne Slot is the man who says to his technical manager, you need to buy this player.
"Pay attention to [that]."
Van Gaal won 54 of his 103 games in charge at Old Trafford.
His overall win percentage with the club stands at 52.43 per cent.
That figure is lower than three United managers who have followed him through the door at Old Trafford.
Jose Mourinho, Ole Gunnar Solskjær and Erik ten Hag all boast higher win percentages.
But current boss Amorim has the lowest of all five.
The Portuguese manager has won just 16 of his 42 games in charge - a paltry win percentage of 38.10 per cent.
That's the worst of any permanent United manager since Frank O'Farrell in 1971.
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