Football News: Anti Louis van Gaal movement growing amongst Manchester United fans

So the Anti-Louis van Gaal movement seems to be growing despite the current good Manchester United results. I understand and even appreciate people getting frustrations of their chest when we lose. But there seems to be a growing number of people who seem the need to vent even when we win.

This is something to be expected though, as even though our results are generally good, the performances at least aesthetically leave something to be desired. Many fans have grown up on Sir Alex's brand of football which although sometimes lacked control of a game certainly was exciting. Fast paced wing play, the mount you got the ball you looked forward to attack the opposition. It was end to end stuff, cavalier the media dubbed it. It worked well in the Premier league during a time in which many teams were well below the standard of the top teams.

And the top amongst them being Manchester United. Man for man we had the best team in the league, so why not stand man to man against the rest of the league. There was no need for clever tactical games, if you play man for man 9 times out of 10 the best team wins. But while we had success after success on british shores we underwhelmed in European competition.

Our domestic style didn't bring the success we craved in Europe, once in 99 did it prevail. Which is a sad return considering the quality of players we had between 1993-2004, not just great names domestically but big names on the world stage. Giggs, Beckham, Scholes, Keane, Stam, Cantona and RvN.

We had players who should have been dominating Europe during a time when there were some good sides playing but none who dominated. Bayern and Juventus so often a thorn in our side but neither had a great side. Real and Barca didn't have the power and resources they enjoy now. AC Milan had about the best side at the time and that didn't really hit its peak until the mid 00's.

It was an exciting style against lesser opposition but on the biggest stage it never quite worked. Our best spell on the biggest stage came between 2007-2011. It was a time when we had a much more european feel to our side. We still played offensive football but it was more controlled than previously, for the first time we really started to have more possession than our opponents.

It was a wonderfully balanced side born out of experience, talent and understanding. We had a well drilled and talented defensive unit. In midfield we had Scholes in his pomp, Hargreaves, Carrick, Fletcher and Anderson. A great selection of experience, talent, hard work and potential. Then we had a forward line that frightened even the the best defences.

The brilliance of Ronaldo alongside the talent and dogged determination of Rooney and Tevez. Either one could kill you in a moment and if you spent too much time on them then you weren't keeping a close enough eye on Scholes or Giggs. It was a wonderful team. But it was how they set up which was most interesting. Gone had the standard 442, but a much smarter 433 or 4141 depending on the opposition.

The new set up meant we had a deep lying midfielder at all times covering the defence and allowing us to control the game. The naivety of standing toe to toe with the opposition had gone. Unfortunately that side lost several key components and we were unable at that time to adequately replace them. Lost was they style which had to be replaced with pragmatism.

The final years of Sir Alex's reign was about keeping our heads above water while other teams with new investment hovered up the talent. To his credit he still managed to get the team to compete on the domestic front, but we were beaten by European minnows such as Basel.

To build a great team you first need to be pragmatic and you need to build from the back and control games. It is gorilla warfare until you have the tanks and the big guns to fight fire with fire. At the moment we don't have the big guns. We have excellent potential but we lack those players who force teams to take a back seat and make them think they are beaten before they get on the pitch.

The last time we dominated teams and played exciting football we had a front line of Ronaldo, Tevez and Rooney (in his prime). Now we have Rooney who is declining at a frightening pace, and potential in Martial, Depay, Pereira and Januzaj. But no one to really frighten teams. Until we get a couple either by the lads with potential fulfilling it or by bringing someone in who already has we will struggle to play with a swagger. But the seeds of a good team are there. We just need to water them, nurture them and help them grow.

As for future managers, first we need to implement a structure within the club to move forward. Never again will we have a long term manager the likes of Sir Alex. Football just doesn't work like that now. The pattern is team plays poorly and underachieves, so the manager is sacked. The new guy is hired and given a season or two to turn things around, if he doesn't he is fired and the process starts again. If he manages it he has a couple of years of success before his side show signs of getting old or stale and the decline starts within a season the manager is fired and the process starts again. At most the manager is given a season to stop the decline and turn it around.

Very few managers can rebuild a team while continuing to win and play good football, for these reasons they lose their jobs. Even Mourinho who is probably one of the best managers around has fallen into this pattern time and time again throughout his career. He takes over builds a good team has success, his team gets stale and he is fired. We'll see how long Abramovic allows him at Chelsea now things don't look as bright.

But for this to work a club needs to be set up in a certain way, the manager needs less control over every aspect of the club. Our youth system for example needs to be completely independent from the manager, our scouting and purchasing policy although dictated by the manager still needs to be kept under close observation.

A manager needs to be given tactical freedom but within certain parameters, such as playing offensive football. The manager needs to be more of a head coach and less a director of a large organisation. That way when the time comes to replace him you aren't left rebuilding the entire structure of the club. A director of football is a must for a club our size.

How you can expect a manager to get the best out of his players on the pitch, keep an eye on the youth system, train the players and get his ideas across, be involved in recruitment, and be involved in the marketing for a global company is absurd. Even in companies half our size they have specific people to run all those things who liaise with each other for the better of the company. We need to stop kidding ourselves that we are just a football club. We need to move into present and plan for the future.

This is a vital time in our clubs history and our future and what it holds will depend more on what is happening off the pitch at this moment in time rather than what is happening on it. Something to keep in mind next time you feel disappointed by a performance or a result.

Written by James "Shappy" Shapland September 24 2015 15:55:34