17 January 2023 , 12:05
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Wayne Rooney did not believe Manchester United should have sacked Louis van Gaal and did not want Jose Mourinho to succeed him – new documentary footage has shown.
Van Gaal was dismissed immediately in the aftermath of guiding the club to the FA Cup in 2016 – their first major trophy in the three years since Sir Alex Ferguson's retirement. The Dutchman had stabilised United’s results after David Moyes disastrously succeeded Ferguson in 2013, but failed to deliver a title challenge.
Mourinho, who had been dismissed from Chelsea months earlier, replaced Van Gaal in the Old Trafford dugout. He would guide the club to the Europa League and EFL Cup trophies in his first campaign but was dismissed in December 2018 with the club languishing in sixth place in the Premier League.
It has now emerged that Rooney – who was instilled as club captain by Van Gaal in 2014 following the exits of Patrice Evra and Nemanja Vidic, coupled with the retirement of Ryan Giggs – was against the club’s decision to remove the Dutchman in 2016.
United had finished in fifth place in the Premier League, missing out on Champions League football for the following campaign having been eliminated at the group stage of the competition earlier that campaign.
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A new documentary film Van Gaal details the Dutchman's career and his time at United. In the series, a phone call between the manager and Rooney is revealed when it is detailed how the captain wanted him to stay at the club.
Wayne Rooney was made United captain under Van Gaal (Matthew Peters/Manchester United via Getty Images)
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Rooney tells Van Gaal in the conversation: "I was very disappointed because I felt that everything was moving in the right direction. I felt if you had one more year we would have been successful."
In the film, Van Gaal admits: "Manchester was my most difficult period. "I came in as a manager and everything was disappointing. Most of the players in the squad were over 30. It was my job to sort it out. Rooney was also nearing 30."
Rooney wanted Van Gaal to stay on and he wished for his former teammate Giggs, who was number two to the Dutchman at Old Trafford, to succeed him in the Old Trafford dugout and not Mourinho. This was a similar stance to both Ferguson and Sir Bobby Charlton, neither of whom supported the Portuguese’s appointment – which was driven by the club’s then-CEO Ed Woodward.