Van Gaal knows where his loyalty must lie — not to Busby, Best and the Babes... but the balance sheet
LOUIS VAN GAAL is ‘a democratic, empathetic human being’. He has a ‘strong personality’ as well as a ‘strong philosophy’ and he believes he can ‘live up to all the expectations’. And with that unrevealing self-portrait, one of the most significant men in British sport introduced himself to his public.
In the week of a compelling Open golf championship and a crucial Lord’s Test match, the introduction of the latest manager of Manchester United won an extraordinary share of attention.
This owes much to the nation’s ongoing obsession with football but still more to a curious public fascination with events at Old Trafford. Van Gaal was playing politics when he described United as ‘the biggest club in the world’. But the claim was not entirely laughable, hence the importance of his new post.
United’s recent activities on the field have been wholly underwhelming. Having won the Premier League title with an ailing team a year ago, they saw that team fall apart last season, to the extent that they were flattered by finishing seventh. Even a manager of 23 years’ experience, a man who has won everything that European club football has to offer, would be hard-pressed to fashion anything remotely formidable from the prevailing mediocrity. But then, we remember their extraordinary resources.
Last week, United concluded a 10-year, £75million-per-year kit deal with adidas. Already in place is a seven-year, £51m-per-year Chevrolet sponsorship, plus a trifling £17m-peryear deal with AON for, of all things, their training kit. These are merely the highlights, for they are following all manner of lucrative avenues. The fact is, they are wading through oceans of banknotes, enjoying the kind of resources which no British club have ever experienced. Some will consider this kind of affluence to be mildly obscene and they may have a point. But since wealth ultimately dictates results, sooner or later United will get things right, and the consequences will be dramatic.
Will van Gaal be the man to deliver the required results? Clearly, nobody knows; equally clearly, it does not matter. For the fact is that Manchester United have ceased to be the football club that we all knew and many loved. Instead, they are a corporation who regard football as their ‘core business’ but who have a whole stream of alternative activities, all producing profits for the Glazer family of Palm Beach, Florida.
In this corporation, van Gaal effectively serves as chief executive (football). If his division produces results, all well and good. If those results should falter — and we are talking months rather than seasons — then he will be replaced. His last two jobs, with Bayern Munich and the Holland national team, each lasted for two years. Although he has signed a three-year contract with United, it seems highly unlikely that he will see it through to the end. For scrutiny will be intense, the pressures will be unrelenting and his principal employers — none of whom could ever be mistaken for a ‘foot
ball person’ — will be intolerant of anything save overwhelming success.
But van Gaal is 62. He understands how the executive game is played and we may be sure that his contract will insulate him from the perils of premature redundancy. Even so, he will not be at Old Trafford for the long term. He will not be given time to identify and cultivate young talent and he would not expect such indulgence. Instead, he will be asked to supply titles and trophies to order. And should he fail, then he will be treated like any other executive who misses his sales targets. Such is the way in which modern corporations are run. Just 14 months have passed since Sir Alex Ferguson departed the manager’s office and already the memories are sepia-tinted.
Which is not to say that he will not do an efficient job, however brief his tenure. An untalented man could not have won titles in Holland, Spain and Germany, nor could he have handled his country’s World Cup efforts with such energy and flair. He will upset a good many players and staff, he will fall out with referees and opposing managers on a regular basis and when the axe falls, he will doubtless blame the media.
But while he is there, he will know where his loyalty lies. Not to the 75,731 who fill the stadium every other week; cheering and singing and creating that raucous atmosphere which television finds so appealing. Not to the legions of disenfranchised United fans, remotely following every pass and tackle. Certainly not to any romantic notion of the men who built the club; from Busby, Best and the Babes, through to Giggs and Rooney.
No, Louis van Gaal must serve a more demanding constituency, one composed of adidas, Chevrolet, AON and that folksy, down-home family from Palm Beach, Florida. In short, he must place himself at the mercy of the balance sheet, as befits a chief executive (football). By that test, the young Ferguson would have lasted about six months. We must hope that United’s latest ‘democratic, empathetic human being’ stays around for a little longer.