On the night of May 21, 2016, a few hours after he had climbed the Wembley steps and triumphantly hoisted the FA Cup above his head, Louis van Gaal was having an argument with his wife, Truus, in their hotel suite.
The Manchester United manager was angry with his wife after she told him that several media outlets were reporting that he would be replaced by José Mourinho. “Why do you have to spoil my party?” he raged. “Stop all this negative nonsense!”
But Truus, an indomitable woman, would not be told otherwise. She had noticed that some United board members, usually so warm towards them both, did not congratulate Van Gaal personally at the party that followed their victory in extra time over Crystal Palace.
“They just waved from afar,” she recalled in the 2022 documentary Van Gaal. “I knew something was wrong, call it feminine intuition. I said: ‘Louis, you’re going to be fired. Get wise to it,’ and I slammed the door shut.”
She was right. The next morning Ed Woodward, the executive vice-chairman, called Van Gaal just before he was due to board a train at Euston railway station, and said he wanted to meet that evening.
Van Gaal batted away questions from a reporter who followed him across the car park at Stockport railway station and drove home, where he was given the bad news by Woodward. “You were right,” a tearful Van Gaal said to his wife.
To soften the blow, Woodward paid for a private jet to fly the couple to the Algarve, where the Van Gaals have a villa.
The day after his second FA Cup final, the Dutchman now in charge of United, Erik ten Hag, will also be boarding a flight to sunnier climes. “I’m going on holiday on Sunday. I think I deserve it,” he said.
As is customary, a party has been planned in London for Saturday night, but whether it goes ahead or not is likely to depend on whether United can upset the odds — 7-1, according to Betfair — and beat a Manchester City side looking to win the Premier League and FA Cup in successive seasons.
Will Ten Hag be back in Manchester again after this weekend? He thinks so. There will certainly be no post-season debrief with the Ineos hierarchy next week. “We already did [it],” Ten Hag said earlier this week.
Was he assured that he would be allowed to see out the final year of his contract? “It was not necessary,” he added. “We will go for next season.”
Either Ten Hag was bluffing and knows that Saturday’s match at Wembley will be his final game, or he has not been directly told that he will be fired.
The smart money is on the latter. Unlike some managers, Ten Hag does not lie when speaking to the press. He does not massage the truth either. He is a straight talker. He was clear to staff from day one that is his approach when speaking to the media, which is admirable.
Rather than make up an excuse, he told the truth when asked why Jadon Sancho had been dropped for the Arsenal game in September, even though his claim that the winger had trained poorly caused a huge row.
Plus, if Ten Hag knew he was going to be fired, why did he not take the manager’s job at Bayern Munich, a club he admires and holds close to his heart, having managed the B team there a few years ago?
Behind the scenes, United were insisting on Friday that no decision has been made on Ten Hag’s future. Again, that claim is believable because, unlike in 2016, when Mourinho was hot property, there is no outstanding candidate for the job,
That talks have taken place with representatives of the four candidates, revealed by The Times on Thursday, should be of concern to Ten Hag, who has privately told friends that he fears the end could be near, especially if his team are hammered by City.
Thomas Tuchel, Mauricio Pochettino, Thomas Frank and Kieran McKenna all have their plus points, but question marks hang over them too.
Tuchel, rightly or wrongly, is viewed in the football world as a short-term manager, Pochettino is regularly criticised for his lack of silverware and Frank and McKenna lack the experience of the other two candidates.
Despite finishing eighth in the Premier League, there is a cogent argument for keeping Ten Hag, who has been hindered by an injury crisis for much of the season. Under his leadership, he has developed a strong nucleus of young talented players such as Kobbie Mainoo, Rasmus Hojlund and Alejandro Garnacho. Get the likes of Luke Shaw, Lisandro Martínez and Mason Mount fit next season, add a few good signings, remove the troublesome deadwood and he has a solid base to work from.
“We can definitely compete for the top four,” Ten Hag said of his ambitions for next season. “The competition means there are many teams in this moment that battle for the top four, but we are definitely in there. We would have been there this season if players had been available. That is the biggest thing that has to change — that the players are, over the course of the season, available.”
Only Shaw, Tyrell Malacia and Harry Maguire are out of Saturday’s match, though, so there will be no excuse for Ten Hag if his team are easily beaten by City, a club whom Ten Hag said he “admires” for their record since the Abu Dhabi takeover of 2008.
Ten Hag was at pains to remind his critics that this will be his third final in two years at United, having also won the Carabao Cup last season. “I am sure that many forget this, yes, absolutely,” he said.
Before United departed for London on Friday, Ten Hag was asked if he had received a good luck message from the Ineos chairman, Sir Jim Ratcliffe.
“Of course, we are together,” he said. “Since January they have been part of this club and they want us to win trophies. As I said, this club didn’t win many trophies in the past ten years, so now we have the second opportunity in two years and it is a big opportunity to win another trophy.”
The question is: even if Ten Hag emulates the achievement of Van Gaal, will it be enough to prevent him from suffering the same fate as his compatriot?
FA Cup final
Manchester City v Manchester United
Saturday, kick-off 3pm
TV:BBC1, ITV1
Radio BBC 5 Live
