While the future of Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal continues to dominate the soccer agenda, it is the lead role being played in the Old Trafford farce by his promoter-in-chief Ed Woodward that should be of greater concern to the club’s owners.
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Instead, he feels continued criticism of Van Gaal will only drive him on more and make him thrive at a time when he takes strength from the solid relationship he has with United’s hierarchy.
Rodgers, who was sacked by the Reds in October, has been tipped as a possible candidate to take over at Old Trafford if Louis van Gaal is sacked.
The manager was alleged to have told United’s hierarchy that he wanted to stand down after the dismal 1-0 defeat by Southampton at Old Trafford on Saturday.
While Manchester United have ratified over £250m worth of transfer deals in the last two seasons, the club’s squad is still of insufficient quality and depth to sustain challenges on multiple fronts.
“I’m sure they’ll be really up for it with their crowd and we’ll be up for it, as we’ve experienced these games”.
In 2011/12 they were six points off the top four at the end of January but ended in third place, helped by a run of nine wins from 10 matches, including a 7-1 victory over Blackburn and a 5-2 win against Spurs.
Amid the intense speculation about his position and with him reportedly set for further discussions with Woodward this week, Van Gaal has United’s next game to think about – Friday’s FA Cup fourth-round trip to Derby.
‘The players who joined us a year ago and played against Cambridge and Yeovil will have seen that an FA Cup tie like this is more of a battle than a football game, ‘ said Rooney.
The Sun cite reports from Tribal Football that state Manchester United have accelerated their interest in Sevilla ace Ever Banega, keen to push through a transfer before the window closes on Monday evening. We know that and have to be ready for that.
They say you learn more from tough times than success, and I’d like to think he will have learned the hard way that he simply can not afford to fall out with players.
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For Van Gaal, it was my way or the high way from the start. “When you look at the big clubs – Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, Manchester United – there are very few people who can do those jobs, and he [Van Gaal] is absolutely on that list”.
