With Louis van Gaal being ushered out the door at Old Trafford as Jose Mourinho prepares to walk in, stories have begun to emerge about his time in charge at Man Utd.
Reports that players were unhappy with his methods have popped up on numerous occasions this season.
Back in September, it was his rigid training regime with which players disagreed and sought a meeting requesting change.
Another strategy which players were unhappy about was the Dutch manager's insistence on scathingly criticising players openly in front of team mates. Both Wayne Rooney and Michael Carrick, two of the club's most senior players, went directly to Van Gaal expressing their belief his methods were unproductive.
Van Gaal relented, instead sending personal emails to players with his critical analysis of their performances. In The Guardian, Daniel Taylor relates the farcical charade which resulted.
From that point onwards, he started sending the players individual emails detailing their faults and submitting video clips to highlight his dissatisfaction. Except by that stage a lot of the players were so disillusioned many ignored the emails or redirected them straight to their trash. Van Gaal suspected as much and had a tracker fitted so he could check if the emails were opened and for how long. It became a game of cat and mouse. Some players opened the emails on their mobiles, then left their phones on the side and wandered off for 20 minutes.
Overall, Van Gaal's time at Man Utd will be viewed as a failure. One aspect of his time which should be commended though is his commitment to younger players. In the Premier League this season, he was responsible for 23% of all minutes played by teenagers.
Louis van Gaal was verantwoordelijk voor 23% van de totale speeltijd van tieners dit seizoen in de Premier League pic.twitter.com/njARI9zPKT
— Bart Frouws (@bartf) May 20, 2016
