Having managed many of Europe’s grandest teams, Louis van Gaal never had his heart broken quite so badly as he did with Manchester United.
And as Ruben Amorim’s Red Devils look to salvage a dreadful domestic campaign with trophy success in the Europa League final on Wednesday night, Van Gaal’s story serves as a reminder that silverware is not always enough to save your job.
The legendary Dutchman made his name with arguably the biggest clubs in the Netherlands, Spain and Germany, before doing the same in England.
Having won it all at Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, he jetted into Old Trafford in 2014, and left with the FA Cup.
Van Gaal finished fourth in his debut campaign after replacing David Moyes, and then won the first trophy of the post-Alex Ferguson era at Wembley in May 2016.
Yet that wasn’t enough to keep him in situ, and his wife Truus has since opened up on how heartbroken he was over what they considered a premature dismissal.
“I knew Louis would be fired by Manchester United, I felt it,” she said on the documentary ‘Van Gaal’.
“We had a small boardroom there and it was always fun with the old Manchester legends, [Alex] Ferguson, Bobby Charlton. We had a table there with good food and drinks.
“Suddenly, they stopped greeting us, just waved from afar. Something was wrong. It was female intuition.
“Then when the man [former CEO Ed Woodward] denies it, Louis accepts it. I said, ‘Louis, you’re going to be fired. Get wise to it’, and I slammed the door of the apartment shut.”
Despite the rumours about Jose Mourinho replacing him, Van Gaal stuck to his task, overcoming West Ham in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup, then Everton in the semis and Crystal Palace in the final.
Yet faltering to a fifth-place finish and out of the Champions League was enough to force United’s hand, as was the lure of Mourinho, immediately after the Wembley triumph.
But Van Gaal wasn’t so aware of what was happening, as his wife explained: “After the FA Cup final, Louis said, ‘Well, we did it!’
“I said, ‘Louis, they say you’ve been fired…’ He got so angry, ‘Why did you have to spoil my party? Stop all this aggressive nonsense!’.
“Later, he said, ‘Hi, it’s Louis. You can come home, you were right’. His voice sounded broken, so I said, ‘Alright, I’m on my way’.
“When I came home, I could see he’d been crying. I hugged him. I had tears in my eyes too.”
Mourinho then arrived five months after his second Chelsea stint had ended, and won the Community Shield, League Cup and Europa League in his debut campaign.
Next season he was a runner-up in the Premier League and FA Cup before departing in December 2018, and United didn’t win another trophy until Erik ten Hag’s arrival in 2023.
Van Gaal wasn’t finished, though, taking one final job, returning back to the Netherlands national team for the third time.
There he proved he still had it, taking making a Dutch side play beyond the sum of their parts, leading them to a quarter-final tie against eventual champions Argentina who they pushed all the way to penalties.
Now an advisor back at Ajax, his arrival has coincided with the Amsterdam giants again contending for the Eredivisie, showing that his United heartbreak may well have been justified after all.
Tottenham manager Ange Postecoglou – who is also trying to salvage a desperate domestic campaign in the Europa League final on Wednesday night – could yet find himself in Van Gaal’s shoes.
talkSPORT understands victory in the showpiece event – which would secure Tottenham’s first trophy since 2008 – does not guarantee his future as Spurs boss.
