David Beckham, one of the living legends of football, was a product of the Manchester United academy and spent a large portion of his career at Old Trafford. He recently spoke about Louis van Gaal, Jose Mourinho and the Red Devils.
The former England captain enjoyed some of the best times of his career at Manchester United before moving to Real Madrid. Beckham won 6 Premier League titles, 2 FA Cups and a Champions League medal in his 11 years at the club, and he recently spoke about the current situation there, as well as a manager linked heavily with them.
“Jose leaving Chelsea, who would have expected that after the season they had last year?” the 40-year-old said in an interview on talkSport. “It doesn’t make him a bad manager. He is still one of the best managers and I hope he comes back to the Premier League as soon as possible.”
Great Van Gaal couldn’t stop the slide
Despite his admiration for Mourinho, Beckham also insisted that he believed Louis van Gaal to be a great manager as well.
“He is an experienced manager with a great reputation in the game,” he said of the Dutchman.
“We have to look at results, we have to look at the way we play, we have to listen to fans – the people that really matter at the club – and I only hear great things about him as a person, as a manager, as a coach.”
The former Red Devil believes that the slump in form for Manchester United was inevitable, given the loss of Sir Alex Ferguson, players like Roy Keane, Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes and even former United chief executive David Gill.
Three seasons of mediocrity
Over the course of the past three decades, Manchester United have boasted a record that put them among the greatest clubs in the world. The treble-winning season of ’99 was a show of utter dominance, and they continued to succeed domestically and even won the Champions League once again in 2008. All of this was guided by the hand of the legendary Scotsman Sir Alex Ferguson.
However, upon his retirement, Manchester United were immediately thrown into the deep end. They failed to qualify for the Champions League and finished 7th in the Premier League under his heir David Moyes, who was sacked before the season ended. Van Gaal seemed to have steadied the ship last season, but it has all come undone once again this season, as United have been knocked out of the UEFA Champions League and are far from the Premier League summit.
