Listen to the full interview via the podcast
Back when Louis Van Gaal was making his name as a manager, Dutch sports journalist and author David Endt got a close up look at the future Manchester United boss, while working behind the scenes at Ajax.
Tonight on Off The Ball, Endt joined us on the show to talk about his former colleague and former Ajax youth team-mate.
"I do expect that he will find it thrilling to work for a club like Manchester United. He is a man who likes the history and tradition of clubs as well as much as working with the team. So this will be a great thrill for him to be there," said Endt, who describes Van Gaal as "warm" and "empathetic" away from the limelight.
"Sometimes they call him the iron sergeant but that is done by people who don't really know the man," he added.
Endt first met Van Gaal in 1971 when both were apprentices at Ajax Amsterdam and almost two decades later, Van Gaal would hire him, with the two sharing an office and maintaining contact to this day.
"We knew each other and we kept in touch," said Endt who worked behind the scenes at Ajax from the late '70s.
"He then took over in September 1991 and one of the first things he did was ask me if I would be his assistant. Well, I was press officer at the time so I did a lot of work with the press but I was always very much involved with the players," said Endt of a man who got the Ajax job in his 30s but had the confidence and plan to succeed.
"He was very convinced about how to manage a team and play football," said Endt, who left Ajax in 2013 and also spoke about the fantastic achievement of bringing about European and domestic success with a young crop of Ajax players in the early to mid-90s. Endt also spoke about the freedom of thought and "family-like feeling" installed by Van Gaal within the club at the time.
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