According to a report in ESPN, Manchester United boss Louis van Gaal has been given one last chance by the board amidst rumours that ex-Chelsea manager Jose Mourinho is waiting for an official approach from the club. The Dutch tactician walked out of the press conference on Wednesday after questioning the ethics of the English media who almost confirmed his sacking in the past few days.
The 64-year-old was instructed prior to the match against Norwich City that he needs to earn two wins out of the next three fixtures for the Red Devils if he was to keep his job. However, the Manchester-based club succumbed to a 2-1 loss against the newly-promoted team and Van Gaal is now left with two matches to save his job.
United have two reasonably tricky matches to come, as they travel to Stoke City on Boxing Day before they welcome Chelsea to Old Trafford two days later.
Van Gaal worried about getting sacked
The United board is supposedly reluctant to sack the manager as it goes against the tradition of the club and some of the officials were even hoping that he would resign from the job after the Norwich match. Although, he did not resign he conceded that he fears getting sacked and that is not how he would want to end his career in the game.
“Yes, of course, I am worried about that because I know that belief in a manager is very important, and when you lose the games you play then the belief in a manager shall decrease,” Van Gaal said after he was quizzed about the sack in the post match conference after the loss against the Canaries.
“That is happening now. I cannot close my eyes to that.”
Van Gaal, who has previously managed clubs like Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Ajax, was particular of the fact in his press conference yesterday that the board, the players and everyone at the Carrington training complex were firmly behind him. But he does not feel the same kind of support from the English media.
“I have tried to lift the confidence of my players. I have done everything this week. I have held meetings, evaluation meetings with the players, with members of staff, I have held a Christmas lunch, I gave a speech and I feel the warmth and the support of everybody at Carrington, this AON Training Complex.
“But I didn't feel that [warmth] in the media,” Van Gaal had said in his press conference.