Manchester United defender Daley Blind believes that the club have made a mistake in sacking Louis van Gaal with one year of his contract still left to run.
Van Gaal has been at the club since the start of the 2014-15 season. However, he has been sacked just a few days after guiding the club to his first trophy in English football – the FA Cup title – and also United’s first title since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement in 2013. Van Gaal’s regiment United has been under concern for quite a while. Fans have not been happy with his style of football, which has also not yielded consistent results.
United qualified for the Champions League in Van Gaal’s first season in charge, but it was not seen as a successful campaign after the club spent a huge amount of money in revamping the squad. In the 2015-16 campaign, they may have ended the trophy drought but missing out on Champions League football is a bigger deal. The club will now struggle to attract players – despite their great reputation in the game – for the upcoming summer. The problem may have been temporarily solved with the imminent arrival of Jose Mourinho, but the Portuguese already has a long list of problems on his hands.
Blind was brought to the club by Van Gaal and he criticised the club’s decision.”I always worked well with him and would have been keen that the co-operation lasted longer.A manager who has achieved so much already deserved more respect.Even though there was so much being written about him losing his job over the last months, he always looked to protect and shelter us.It is not easy for a coach if you are repeatedly being fired in the newspapers. Still, we as a squad kept believing in the manager and showed that with our FA Cup win,” said Van Gaal.