Now the dust has settled on the 2014/15 season, our resident Manchester United fans drinking in the Football Transfer Tavern are reflecting back upon some of the most memorable moments of their season.
But this time we’re not speaking about goals but rather the more outrageous moments of the campaign, Angel Di Maria’s stunning strike away at Leicester City aside.
We’re talking about the lighter moments, controversial interviews and downright comic value.
Our resident Red Devils have been in celebratory mood of late having seen their side reclaim a spot back in the Premier League’s top four meaning they can look forward to Champions League football next season and when you add the fact that Memphis Depay is already in the bag, the days of David Moyes are a distant memory.
Having scanned their eyes down the list of possible opponents United could face in the Champions League play-off round to enter the group stages for next term, our punters agree that Monaco and Lazio are the teams they’d prefer to avoid with Rapid Vienna and Young Boys representing the desirable opposition.
Before all of that however, lets take a look back at five of the most outrageous moments from the Red Devils’ 2014/15 campaign.
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Click on Louis van Gaal below to reveal the 5 most outrageous moments of Manchester United’s season.
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Phil Jones trying his best John Terry impression
We all remember the images and stills of Chelsea’s John Terry flinging himself to the ground to block a header from a Slovenian forward in that England game at the World Cup in South Africa in 2010 – a last ditch attempt in every sense of the word!
But Manchester United’s Phil Jones went one better in a bizarre attempt to win the ball from Arsenal’s Olivier Giroud who was through on goal in United’s 1-1 draw with the Gunners at the tail end of the season.
Described by Sky Sports commentator Gary Neville as looking like the ‘breast stroke’ or the ‘front crawl’, Jones – a man infamous for his mid-game facial expressions – managed to avert the ball from Giroud’s control however.
Following the tackle of sorts came an entire plethora of internet memes and funny GIFs.
I suppose you gotta do what you gotta do!
Hello, hello, hey… pay attention to the manager!
Perhaps THE most outrageous moment of the season as a whole, let alone in Manchester United’s individual campaign but who can forget a half cut Louis van Gaal taking control of the mic at the Red Devils’ end of season / player of the year awards recently?
We all remember the caps of Jim Rosenthal and Hayley McQueen looking on at the Dutch tactician from the stage as he took control of the evening in not only praising United for ‘how CLOSE’ they are to Chelsea but also revealing the spirit within his troops.
Happy slapping first team coach and club legend Ryan Giggs later in the evening, if you didn’t like van Gaal before this evening, you never will after he hilariously uttered a series of gems that will never be forgotten, primarily ‘hello, hello, hey… pay attention to the manager’ when taking centre stage.
The whole event had us all wondering whether the Red Devils boss had finally found those keys to Sir Alex Ferguson’s old red wine cabinet within the confines of Old Trafford!
Rooney KO’d in front of 75,000
On the morning of Manchester United’s home fixture with Tottenham back in March, The Sun led with the Sunday scoop that depicted Wayne Rooney being seemingly knocked out by former Red Devils team-mate Phil Bardsley after the pair were messing about in boxing shenanigans filmed in private.
With this rather trivial news being skirted around by van Gaal following United’s emphatic 3-0 victory, this news – now in the public domain of course – gave Rooney the perfect opportunity to execute a new celebration.
Receiving a round of applause by our regulars in the tavern, following his strike, Rooney stood with his arms in punching motion before falling to the floor in KO’d fashion.
The rather ironic thing is that the entity that were truly KO’d were Tottenham Hotspur who were dealt an absolute thrashing on a day in which Mauricio Pochettino’s side refused to turn up.
‘Long ball’ is a curse term for LVG!
If Rafael Benitez’s fact rant of 2009 wins the competition for managerial meltdowns, surely Louis van Gaal’s press conference of 2015 following the 1-1 draw at West Ham United makes the top five amidst Kevin ‘I would love it’ Keegan and co!
After Daley Blind rescued a point for the Red Devils at the death, van Gaal believed his adaptation to more of a long ball style throughout the game paid dividends with United having at least taken something from the game at Upton Park where they might not have, had the change not been made.
Queue a clearly disappointed and bitter Sam Allardyce lamenting the tactics of United – rich isn’t it – in his post-game interview, then in turn forcing van Gaal to react in his post-game press conference not only with words but a full blown dossier documenting the amount of long balls United actually play amid other valuable statistics.
We wonder if this carefully assembled pack was ever passed Allardyce’s way?
BBC’s Guy Mowbray owned by LVG
It always seems to be personalities affiliated to Manchester United doesn’t it?
I mean, who can forget the likes of Sir Alex Ferguson and Roy Keane reducing interviewers to shivering wrecks with just their fixated stares alone following some questions that they’d rather avoid post-game?
The BBC’s Guy Mowbray was dealt this very fate following United’s unlucky 1-0 loss away at Chelsea near the end of the season in a game that was a typical Jose Mourinho performance – soak up all of the pressure and hit United on the break with a sucker punch.
In a game that was described by van Gaal as United’s best performance of the season, the Dutchman was clearly incredibly frustrated to be departing Stamford Bridge without any points to show for their efforts.
This anger was entirely vented upon the unsuspecting Mowbray with the following gems emerging from his interview.
Mowbray: “Is that how highly you rate the performance, yeah?”
van Gaal: “Yeah, you don’t?”
Mowbray: “No, I’m just interested in how you see it”
van Gaal: “That’s good… that you’re interested”
Mowbray: “So do you think it was a foul on Falcao in the build-up?”
van Gaal: “Sooo, you know that, ok”
Mowbray: “Thanks Louis”
There you have it; an incredibly awkward interview for everybody to watch!
