"Managing them was a terrible experience."
After agonizing over his time managing Manchester United, Van Gaal eventually summed it up in one sentence.
Sitting across from him, Yang Yang looked at the Dutchman, as though he were seeing him back when they had first met at the Skate Park in Almere. That year, Van Gaal had just been dismissed from the Barcelona job for the second time, and the blow had been devastating.
Managing Manchester United had been the same.
"If Manchester United is the club with the strongest commercial operations in the world, then among Europe's elite clubs, they must have the worst sporting management. From the CEO down, none of them have any real ability or experience in managing sporting affairs, and they're seriously lacking in long-term planning and objectives. It's a disaster."
As Van Gaal spoke, he showed no sign of resentment. He sounded more like he was stating a fact.
And it truly was a fact acknowledged throughout the industry.
Although many media outlets and fans knew how important Ferguson had been to Manchester United, everyone had still underestimated his importance—including Manchester United's own management, which had underestimated it even more severely.
Before taking the position of Manchester United's CEO, Ed Woodward had no experience running a football club. He was good at commercial operations, but he was more like a professional manager. He answered to the owners and cared only about commercial matters. He neither cared about nor excelled at sporting affairs.
"There are three people responsible for squad building within Manchester United's power structure. One is head scout Steve Brown. Another is John Murtough, head of the football development department. But the most important is Matt Judge, director of Manchester United's corporate development department. He's Woodward's right-hand man and is fully responsible for hiring