A biography for Louis van Gaalhasn’t been written yet.
“When you have a lot of ball possession, you have a lot of ball possession to create chances, not to play the ball around and not score.”
“When I was coach at Ajax, in the first half of the season, the players needed time to adapt to me, to know who I am as a person and as a coach.”
“The accommodation for the players to dress themselves, to change into their club shirts, are in most stadiums not so good.”
“You are always evaluating. That philosophy is very important for me. Because of that, I am - or maybe I should say was - a very successful manager.”
“I think the team is always better than the individual player.”
“Preparing your tactical formation is essential. Each player needs to know where he has to be, and that is why there needs to be mutual understanding: because you need absolute discipline.”
“I was a fan of Henk Groot, former striker of Ajax, who scored many goals with his head. I thought, 'I can do that also,' but I couldn't.”
“I have no ambition to be a technical director or TV pundit.”
“I back all of my players, not only Wayne Rooney.”
“It was very difficult to succeed Bert van Marwijk because, two years before, he was second in the World Cup, and then he left a broken-up team behind - so that was much more difficult than you think.”
“I have a philosophy. I was convinced of it, and by winning trophies in four countries, I proved the philosophy worked.”
“When you have an older group of players, they play on automatic pilot a lot of the time, but with youngsters, you have more intuition.”
“It's not hard at all to make the switch from United to Oranje. For a manager, it's totally different than for a player.”
“Every human being is special because they all have identities.”
“You have to play football to entertain the fans.”
“Everybody thinks I am a narcissist. I am actually the opposite of that.”
“I hope that all the people who work with me remember me as a human being.”
“I thought always Manchester United can buy every player because they have a lot of power.”
“When I have signed for clubs, I have always spoken a long time with the CEO or with the owners, not only at United, but also at Bayern Munich and Barcelona, and I have the faith that they always support me.”
“You have to live in the present, I think.”