19th May, 2014
Temitope Johnson
In Louis van Gaal, Manchester United (a.k.a Red Devils) will get a coach, who does not believe in God. Van Gaal who, earlier Monday, was confirmed as successor to the underwhelming David Moyes will join the Red Devils after the World Cup at which he will be coach of Holland.
The former Ajax, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and AZ Alkmaar coach was born a Catholic, but dumped Catholicism-and God-in the early 90s, following the death of his wife, Fernanda, from cancer.
“When I lost Fernanda, it was then I stopped believing in God and stopped being a Catholic. This God did not respect the human being and the suffering of my wife. I want nothing with a God who let people suffer this much,” wrote Van Gaal in his 2009 autobiography.
United will be getting one of the most illustrious and egoistical names in the game. Van Gaal is reputed to be breathtakingly arrogant, dictatorial and relentlessly fight-seeking.
Uli Hoeness, former Bayern Munich president who was recently jailed for tax evasion, once claimed that Van Gaal believes he is bigger than God.
“Van Gaal’s problem is not that he’s God, but he’s God’s very own father. Louis was already there before the world even existed. If you look at the world from that perspective, like Van Gaal does, it’s hard to see what the world really looks like,” said Hoeness of Van Gaal’s claim that the Bayern’s success in 2013 was down to the work he did as coach before being sacked in 2011.
The Dutch coach, who won the UEFA Champions League with Ajax in 1995, two league titles with Barcelona and a domestic double with Bayern Munich, cannot safely be branded as humble.
“I have achieved more with Ajax in six years than Barcelona has in one hundred years,” he said after signing to coach Barcelona in 1997.
His enmity with Dutch legend, Johann Cruyff, is one of the longest running feuds in Dutch football.