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Political Football

Van Gaal accused of ignoring Giggs in favour of Dutch coaches

How are the two getting on?

MANCHESTER UNITED BOSS Louis van Gaal has been accused of ignoring Ryan Giggs and delegating coaching responsibilities to his Dutch staff.

Giggs was appointed assistant following the arrival of Van Gaal last term, while Dutchmen Frans Hoek and Albert Stuivenberg were also added to the coaching staff.

The former winger is the favourite to succeed Van Gaal as United manager at the end of next season, having enjoyed a brief spell in charge after David Moyes was sacked in 2013.

However, former Netherlands international Wim Kieft believes Giggs is being mistreated and pointed to an incident during United’s defeat to PSV on Tuesday night.

“No one in Holland could believe what we saw when United played PSV Eindhoven in the Champions League,” the 52-year-old told the Mirror.

“When Luke Shaw was injured, they had eight minutes to prepare Marcos Rojo to come on as a substitute.

“How did they use that time? First of all, Frans Hoek comes out with a pack of papers and then has to put his glasses on to read instructions out to [Marcos] Rojo.

“Then Van Gaal’s other assistant, Albert Stuivenberg, goes and tells Rojo what to do.

“And finally, Van Gaal thinks, ‘I better instruct him in my own words’, so, he is, the third guy telling Rojo how to play.

“Ryan Giggs was nowhere to be seen, and he is the one man on Van Gaal’s coaching staff who has played more matches at top level than any of the other coaches and has major experience.

“It seems Van Gaal is relying too much on his Dutch staff – and we all saw the problems that caused when he did the same thing at Barcelona.”

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