Van Gaal starts new era at United

Louis van Gaal started a new era at Manchester United on Wednesday as the Dutch manager arrived for his first day in charge of the fallen giant.

Just days after securing the Netherlands' third-place finish at the World Cup, van Gaal jetted into Manchester to begin the task of restoring United to its position as the Premier League's pre-eminent force.

The 62-year-old Dutchman was appointed as replacement for the sacked David Moyes two months ago, but his World Cup commitments meant he had to wait until now to officially take the reins at Old Trafford.

Van Gaal faces a significant rebuilding job after United endured a miserable campaign under Alex Ferguson's hand-picked successor Moyes, finishing seventh in the Premier League and failing to qualify for the Champions League.

With much to do, van Gaal, back in club management for the first time since leaving Bayern Munich in 2011, was so keen to get down to business that he opted against taking a holiday after the World Cup.

The former Barcelona boss arrived in England on a private plane and was whisked from the airport to United's Carrington training ground.

Van Gaal was welcomed by his new assistant, United legend Ryan Giggs, and the club's chief executive, Ed Woodward, who gave the Dutchman a tour of the training ground after posing for pictures which were posted on the team's official Twitter feed.

Dressed smartly in a blue suit, van Gaal may have raised a few eyebrows in Manchester for choosing a blue-and-white tie - the colors of archrival and Premier League champion Manchester City - rather than the red of United.

Van Gaal had already sent an advance party to Manchester ahead of his arrival and his other assistant coaches, Albert Stuivenberg and Marcel Bout, took the first training session of the day along with Giggs before the manager's arrival.

After revealing earlier in the week he hopes to emulate the team spirit which helped the Netherlands mount a strong challenge at the World Cup, van Gaal was due to meet the players for the first time before putting them through their paces in the second training session.

The two-a-day sessions are designed to boost the players' fitness after the close season and United's Brazilian defender Rafael da Silva was keen to embrace the challenge, tweeting a picture from inside the dressing room captioned 'Let's go, two sessions'.

Van Gaal, who won the Champions League with Ajax in 1995 and a combined seven domestic league titles in Spain, Germany and the Netherlands, was to be officially presented at a media conference on Thursday before flying out to the United States on Friday for the club's preseason tour.

(China Daily 07/18/2014 page23)