Van Gaal says Manchester City cheating cost him his job at Manchester United
Louis van Gaal believes Manchester City’s cheating cost him his job at Manchester United in 2016.
Van Gaal replaced David Moyes at the Old Trafford helm as the second manager in the post-Sir Alex Ferguson era and after finishing fourth and qualifying for the Champions League in his debut season he failed to repeat that feat in his second and was shown the door, despite winning the FA Cup.
The Red Devils had Champions League qualification in their grasp but capitulated in the new year and lost to West Ham in the penultimate game of the season to gift fourth spot to City, who finished ahead of them on goal difference.
And Van Gaal claims being pipped to that Champions League spot was the “deciding factor” in his sacking.
Van Gaal told the Athletic: “For me, at the time, that (missing out on the Champions League in 2016) was probably the deciding factor in my dismissal from Manchester United and all the consequences and suffering this entailed.”
City were found guilty of breaching 114 Premier League rules by an independent commission last month, as the panel found them to have used ‘sham’ sponsorship deals to boost they earnings by around £900m between 2009 and 2018.
The club have now appealed that verdict as they insist upon their innocence and claim they have ‘irrefutable evidence’ to prove it, in the form of documents showing that the sponsorship funds came from the Abu Dhabi government rather from their owners.
READ: Man City FFP: PL clubs could go rogue and impose eight unsanctioned punishments
The initial three-man commission has already seen this evidence and ‘concluded it was an explanation that the club had concocted well after the event in an attempt to conceal the realities of the Disguised Funding Scheme’, but City hope an all-new panel will rule in their favour.
Possible punishments include fines, transfer bans, points deductions and even Premier League expulsion, while it’s also been suggested the club should have their titles stripped in a retrospective action.
But that won’t be of any use to Van Gaal, who added: “I cannot turn back history now. Not even the English Football Association can (do that).”
The UEFA punishment
Five of the charges were a failure to comply with UEFA’s Financial Fair Play rules and Colombian broadcaster and commentator Cesar Augusto Londoño, who boasts 1m followers on X, has now leaked that the European government body are set to impose the most severe punishment in its history.
He posted on October 15: ‘UEFA is reportedly close to announcing that, if Manchester City is found guilty following its appeal, it will be expelled from all European competitions for a period of 7 to 10 years.
‘Under that measure, it would be unable to participate in the Champions League, Europa League, and Conference League. The club was found guilty of 115 financial violations in the first instance.’
