Fergie my top boss

DUTCH legend Robin van Persie has used a book about Louis van Gaal to hail Sir Alex Ferguson as the best boss he ever worked with. Van Persie, who played under Van Gaal, Ferguson and Arsene Wenger during a glittering career in which he became Holland’s record goalscorer, described Sir Alex as a “super manager’ in the book LVG – The Manager and the Total Person. The striker, who helped Manchester United win the title after arriving from Arsenal in 2012, was devastated when Ferguson announced his retirement once the Premier League had been reclaimed. But he still rates the Scot as No.1. Van Persie said: “Ferguson really was a super manager. It was so brilliant how he always kept the entire squad happy and focused. “Wenger was a combination of Ferguson and Van Gaal. Arsene always emphasised all the positive things and he looked at what would work for the long term. “Tactically, Van Gaal is a genius – you can’t deny that. I have had managers who had their own strengths. “But Ferguson really was a super manager.” Last week, Sunday Mirror Sport revealed how Wayne Rooney rated Van Gaal as the best manager he has worked under – and that United were wrong to sack him after just two years. The axe fell less than 24 hours after United had won the FA Cup. But they had finished fifth in the Premier League. Van Persie says the end was inevitable. He added: “Manchester United really is a beast of a club, it is tough for everyone there. “I have played for Arsenal. Their fans loved it if we played beautiful football and won plenty of games. “At United, you HAD to win. You had to play good football, you had to attack with wingers, but, foremost, you had to win. “If things go well, it is the most beautiful place in the world where you can be. “But if things don’t go well? Tough. I have experienced that myself. “My first year was good. The second year was less good – and then you are on your own. It’s tough and lonely at times. It is very hard.” David Moyes, Van Gaal and Jose Mourinho have all been sacked in the seven years since Ferguson shocked Van Persie by retiring in the summer of 2013. Van Persie feels the men who followed Fergie (above) had an impossible job because time was of the essence. The Dutchman said: “Louis arrived very soon after Ferguson – Moyes was only briefly manager between the two. “So Louis had to carry on with players Moyes had bought, and players from the Ferguson era. “But Louis also wanted to make his own mark in Manchester. “So another four or five players arrived including Angel Di Maria, Radamel Falcao and Bastian Schweinsteiger. “At the same time he wanted to drill his own philosophy into the team. “That required time – and time is something you don’t get at Manchester United. “At Arsenal, he would have. At Tottenham, he would have. “But at Real Madrid, Barcelona, Manchester United? You never get time. “Louis reckons it was the best trophy he won in his career when he won the FA Cup with United. “Knowing that they were discussing his sacking well before that, I can understand his words a bit. But, on the other hand, I don’t get it at all. It certainly was not the best trophy, in my opinion. “He has won the Champions League, the Club World Cup and he won the league in Spain and Germany. I refuse to believe he finds the FA Cup the best trophy. “Did this adventure at Manchester United come too quickly for him after the World Cup? “I have asked myself that. Things didn’t go so smoothly as they did with Holland. “Louis and the team were heavily criticised. I don’t think we had a bad bunch of players, we had some good performances. But we didn’t get many great results.”