‘Van Gaal should have replaced Fergie’

FORMER Manchester United goalkeeper Mark Bosnich believes the club should have appointed Louis van Gaal as manager this time last year, rather than replacing Sir Alex Ferguson with David Moyes.

Dutchman van Gaal is the short-priced favourite to take over as United’s boss after the sacking of Moyes last week, with several sources reporting the Netherlands national coach will be officially unveiled as the new Red Devils manager within the next fortnight.

It will be a marked change in direction for the English giants, who had attempted to plan for the long term by appointing the relatively youthful Moyes, who was 50 when handed the keys to Old Trafford.

Former Bayern Munich and Barcelona boss van Gaal is 62, and is seen as someone who could turn around United’s fortunes quickly.

Bosnich, who was part of the Red Devils’ youth setup in the early 1990s before returning to the club later in his career, believes van Gaal is the right fit for the job.

“I think it’s a very good appointment,” Bosnich told Fox Sports News. “It’s somebody that Manchester United probably needed from the outset.

“He’s very, very strong, he’s won everything that you can possibly win as a manager, including the European Champions League.

“He has a wonderful pedigree, and he’ll be going to the World Cup with Netherlands — funnily enough in Australia’s group.

“That’s exactly somebody that they need — a high class manager who’ll have his own mind and do things his own way and basically start a new era.”

Bosnich said that Moyes could have had success at the Manchester club if given time, but that was a luxury the Red Devils simply couldn’t afford in this era of professionalism.

“I think David Moyes, given time — and it didn’t look that way — but would have eventually had to play football that Manchester United fans have become accustomed to.

“It took Sir Alex Ferguson four years to win his first trophy. They just haven’t got that type of time these days. The club’s listed on the New York Stock Exchange, they’ve got a huge interest debt that they have to pick up every year and it has been a disaster.

“I think they’ve learned their lesson. It was wrong in the first place to let Sir Alex appoint his successor, and that … has been found out. Now they’re going to get a top-class manager and he will bring in a top-class side.”

In the meantime, Ryan Giggs has taken charge of the club in an interim capacity. Bosnich backed his old teammate to become a successful manager, but doesn’t believe he’s quite ready to take charge of a club as big as United without any previous managerial experience.

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