Louis van Gaal to Manchester United: Announcement will not be made this week but Ryan Giggs will be the assistant manager
Van Gaal's appointment as the replacement to David Moyes has been restricted due to his priorities with the Netherlands' World Cup campaign
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Your support makes all the difference.Manchester United will not announce the appointment of Louis van Gaal as manager until next week, as they seek to iron out the last contractual details of the Dutchman’s contract.
United have found themselves restricted by Van Gaal’s commitment to the Dutch national team, as they seek to formally announce David Moyes’ successor as quickly as possible. With the resolution of small contractual details preventing an announcement today, the build-up to the Netherlands' Saturday friendly against Ecuador is the impediment to anything being officially announced tomorrow or on Saturday.
Van Gaal does not want anything to detract from his Dutch side’s World Cup focus. That means a probable announcement early next week.
Van Gaal’s meeting with Ryan Giggs yesterday confirmed his role as the 62-year-old’s No 2 but there are backroom issues to be resolved, including the future of Phil Neville and Chris Woods. Both men appear to be on the way out, though Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes do appear to have futures under the new regime.
The delay means that chief executive Ed Woodward will not have a new manager to announce when he is grilled by New York Stock Exchange analysts this lunchtime.
The chief executive will be questioned publicly on his search for a successor to David Moyes when he appears for a conference call coinciding with United’s third quarter financial results. The 20 minutes of questions, which start at 1pm, are likely to see the chief executive underline United’s ambition to respond immediately after a disastrous season in which they have fallen out of Europe altogether.
Woodward faces grilling as Van Gaal talks continue
The analysts’ briefing has taken place at a time and date of United’s choosing and will have been a landmark in the front of minds at the club. United need to resurrect their share price, as well as the club’s in-field fortunes. The three months which today’s financial results relate to actually saw United progress to the quarter finals of the Champions League, boosting their revenues, though United are expecting the focus of the conversation to be on the future.
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