Ferguson: He Is Always Honest With The Press.

The former Manchester United boss
says the Dutchman once asked for
advice on dealing with the press during
his time at Barcelona, and is now
intrigued by his openness.

Former Manchester
United manager Sir
Alex Ferguson
admits he finds
Louis van Gaal 's
honesty with the media "interesting",
and has backed the Dutchman to
succeed at Old Trafford.

Ferguson, who retired in May 2013,
had a number of run-ins with the
British press during his successful 27
years in charge of United, in which he
won 13 Premier League titles, five FA
Cups and the Champions League
twice.

Van Gaal has also had a chequered
history with journalists, particularly in
his first spell at Barcelona between
1997 and 2000, a time when he
actually asked the Scot for advice on
how to handle the scrutiny.

"I've always got on well with Louis," he
told MUTV. "We met several times
when he was with Barcelona. In 1998
we were in the [Champions League]
group stage together and he asked me
about dealing with the press. I had a
few things about that!

"He had a different approach to the
press at that time and my advice was
don't read it and don't get upset about
it. He has his own way. I think
watching his press conferences are
quite interesting, he's very, very honest
in his press conferences, which is
interesting."

Ferguson says he has spoken to Van
Gaal on a couple of occasions since
the Dutchman took the reigns at Old
Trafford following the World Cup.

"There's no ongoing dialogue, he
comes into my office sometimes after
the game, to have a chat, it's not a
matter of picking up the phone and
phoning him," he added. "He's very
capable, a strong personality, he
knows where I am if he ever did need
me but there's not been any need for
him to phone me.

"Louis has made a lot of changes and,
thinking about that, actually maybe
he’s doing the right thing, to clear the
decks and build his own team because
he’s got the experience and coaching
ability to do that. The way he’s
approached it I think has been brilliant.

"He'd not got the results that were
expected, but when I came to the club I
didn't get the results. He's been
through that a bit. There's no doubt in
my mind he will sort it out."

David Moyes was the man hand-
picked by Ferguson as his successor
back in 2013, but the former Everton
boss was sacked inside his first
season in Manchester after a string of
poor results and performances.
Ferguson did not discuss his
countryman's short reign during a 30-
minute interview with the club's in-
house television channel, but did admit
he was unhappy with some of the
campaign's most defining matches.

"I got annoyed last year when we lost
to Liverpool," he said. "I didn't enjoy
that, losing to Liverpool and
Manchester City, because they're our
biggest rivals, they are the ones. They
will always strive to defeat us,
particularly Liverpool of course."

The 72-year-old also admitted he is
wary of expressing too much emotion
while watching the game from the
stands at Old Trafford: "The way I've
always been, I'm actually quite stoney-
faced watching a game, I don't like to
show emotion, unless we're scoring a
goal. You're always concious that the
cameras are on you, too. The press
don't miss an opportunity to focus on
you during a game."