Man Utd appoint Van Gaal: what's in store for the players?

Disciplinarian Dutchman will be more Ferguson than Moyes, but Giggs can be the buffer

Renowned disciplinarian, Louis Van Gaal
(Image credit: Stuart Franklin/Bongarts/Getty Images)

One theme dominates the British media's response to the news that Manchester United have appointed Louis van Gaal as their new manager – discipline. No doubt about it, the 62-year-old Dutchman, the first from outside the British Isles to manage the club, comes with a hard-as-nails reputation.

The Guardian says that van Gaal "likes discipline", and to prove it the paper claims he insists in his household that his daughters use the formal version of the word 'you' when addressing him in Dutch. If Van Gaal brings such a strict approach to Old Trafford then the United squad is in for a shock, particularly given that during the month Ryan Giggs was in charge following David Moyes' sacking in April they addressed him as "Ryan".

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Bill Mann is a football correspondent for The Week.co.uk, scouring the world's football press daily for the popular Transfer Talk column.