I predict this appointment will end in failure and more recrimination. There’s more than a whiff of yesterday’s man about Van Gaal. Man U have essentially gone for a big name whose major achievements are a long time in the past, a bit like Giovanni Trapattoni getting the Eire job. Actually this appointment is probably more like Scolari going to Chelsea or Dalglish returning to Liverpool. Looked good on paper, but two guys around the 60 mark who were yesterday’s men at club level and failed.
The template in management now is what Atletico Madrid, Everton, Liverpool and Barcelona (in the not too distant past) have gone with, young dynamic managers in their early 40’s.