Louis van Gaal will announce in the near future whether he will be the new national coach of the Dutch national team. It would be the third term for the 69-year-old trainer, who is known as a demanding perfectionist. Numerous footballers can tell wonderful anecdotes after working with Van Gaal. For example, in 1996 Tijjani Babangida did not know what happened to him when Van Gaal entered the Ajax dressing room. “Babangida, congratulations on Monique’s birthday!”
Babangida was stunned not only that Van Gaal knew when his girlfriend’s birthday was, but also because he had forgotten it himself. “That is typical of Louis’s way of working,” says the Nigerian, who is currently chairman of the Nigerian players’ union, in conversation with Football International. “You can see from that how deeply he immerses himself in the person behind the football player.”
Van Gaal is also known as a control freak, Babangida knows better than anyone. He let all Ajax players go from the dressing room to the parking deck. There the trainer showed that all cars were parked neatly in a row, but that one player had his car tilted. Babangida can’t remember which teammate it was, but he can remember that the person in question was laughed at. Van Gaal wanted to show that the focus for a match starts well before kick-off. “Every time I park my car, I still think of Louis,” the former attacker jokes about his minor trauma.
“That is just one example of the details with which Van Gaal works. He also looked at whether we were dressed neatly and with what attitude we came to the field.” It sounds familiar to Kew Jaliens. “From his first season, we had to put our shirt in our pants at AZ. And we had to wear our socks neatly up.” Increasing team discipline was an absolute must for Van Gaal. “There was never mayonnaise on the table, only ketchup. And we were absolutely not allowed to drink soda drinks.”
Jaliens, now technical director of the youth of Newcastle Jets and of the state of New South Wales, still remembers Van Gaal’s speech after winning the league title with AZ. “He stressed very much that it was not just the championship of the players. But also from the staff, the volunteers and everyone around the team. Our wives and families were also very much involved in the celebration.”
Danijel Pranjic worked with Van Gaal at Bayern Munich. The Croat, now trainer of NK Dubrava, thinks that the intensive approach of the Dutchman does not have a long shelf life. “Three or four years is the maximum. He is such a perfectionist and always demands one hundred percent focus, motivation and concentration. At any time of the day, but sometimes players also need a little more space and free time.” He confirmed that Van Gaal dropped his pants in front of the Bayern players to show that he had balls and that he would also like the players to show them on the pitch. “He wanted to motivate us in this way.”