Louis van Gaal’s taken plenty of shots at the media during his controversial tenure at the helm of Manchester United, but this time, one media member is firing back. That would be Neil Custis of The Sun, who van Gaal referred to as “fat man” in a parting shot over criticism of Wayne Rooney after a 3-3 draw with Newcastle United Tuesday. Custis responded in his paper this week:
You are right Louis I am fat. I had a knee operation four months ago that stopped me running and going to the gym. That has resulted in me putting on nearly two stone. But I am trying to get it all off by having a dry January and calm February and a personal trainer. At least I can hold my hand up to my own failings. Shame others can’t.
Custis went even further in an appearance on the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast on talkSport:
“I don’t think he’s wasted it on poor players. He’s bought good players, he’s just made them poor.”
Now that’s an antagonistic media relationship. It speaks to one of van Gaal’s struggles, too; while he’s certainly dealt with plenty of press before, especially during his time managing the Dutch national team, he hasn’t seemed to quite figure out the English press the way others have. He’s made a habit of storming out of press conferences, and while his exits have sometimes been pretty funny, he seems to have an awfully thin skin by the standards of English managers.
The fact is, the press are going to write plenty of negative things about the manager of Manchester United even when they’re doing well on the field (even Sir Alex Ferguson had plenty of tiffs with the press, and took plenty of criticism from them), and they’re going to go even further when the team’s struggling and the man in charge doesn’t seem to be held to account by management. Shooting back at the media in general is one thing, but specifically targeting one journalist and specifically going after his appearance feels like a bit much. It’s not a great look for van Gaal, and it doesn’t add to the case to keep him around.
Comments are closed.