Louis van Gaal to relieve Manchester United fitness team from part-time duties with England team

Manchester United manager Louis van Gaal with his fitness coach Tony Strudwick

The present Manchester United coach wants to relieve Tony Strudwick and Rod Thornley, the physios he got from the yesteryear days of Old Trafford, from their responsibilties with the England Football team and focus completely at Carrington.

Van Gaal, since taking up the reins this summer as the head coach of the Red Devils, has been badly hampered by a series of injuries to his squad. His first team players comprising of Johny Evans, Chris Smalling, Ashley Young, Phil Jones, Michael Carrick, Ander Herrera and Marouane Fellaini are all nursing injuries. The United manager wants his back-room staff to focus completely on the club and their responsibilties herein. And he has let the Football Association know of his concerns.

The duo are mostly expected to be relieved of their England duties after the Euro 2016 qualifying games against San Marino and Estonia. Strudwick has been the fitness coach with United for over seven years and Thornley has been a masseur, who have both been serving the club and country for some time now.

The FA council are hoping to speak with the former Dutch coach after the international fixtures, but the 63-year-old seems to be admant and has made his verdict and wants the physios at the club. So,the England manager will have to find new replacements before England take on Slovenia in the Euro qualifier and play a friendly match against Scotland.

Roles of Strudwick and Thornley

Strudwick had been inducted in this fold for the World Cup in Brazil and his responsibilty at Old Trafford, this season, has fine tuned after been appointed head of athletic development. The fitness coach’s role in the club has increased to working on the physical development of the youth team which Van Gaal anticipates to bring to the club. He now has to work with Louis van Gaal in the first-team playing eleven upto the academy under Paul McGuinness. The change in the positions have occurred with the arrival of Van Gaal’s trusted aide and fitness coach of Netherlands, Jos van Dijk.

Van Dijk has formerly worked with the Dutch Coach as the fitness coach of Netherlands in the summer World Cup and also at club levels.

Manchester United mentioned about the Strudwick in a statement released: “Introducing this new role and using Tony’s invaluable experience in sports science, which spans over 20 years, shows the club’s commitment on placing greater emphasis on developing players for long-term success.”

Strudwick had commented on his new responsibitly as :

“I am thoroughly enjoying this new role,”

“With increased importance on developing players for the future, the athletic component becomes critical in their advancement and to have the chance to work with the younger players, who are in the early stages of their career, as well as the first team, will give a continuity of progression which is critical to their future success.”

In contrast Thornley is said to have been recommended David Beckham, as a member of FA’s medical staff and since then has been a long serving member of the team. Benjamin Thornley, who played for United and Huddersfield town is the elder brother of Rod Thornley.

The England’s medical staff is now comprised of Dr Ian Beasley and Gary Lewin, a former Arsenal employee. Hodgson has also the esteemeed experise of other medical team affliated with Premier League clubs with the likes of Steve Kemp and Carlo Sertori of Manchester City in the ranks.

United to play friendlies in midweek

With the lack of no European football action and their early exit in Capital One Cup, United have a no matches between their Premier League encounters. They are planning to play lucarative friendly matches overseas, mostly in the Middle East to fill the time slot.

There are also reports suggesting a loss of more than £40m due to their non-qualification in the Champions League football this season

United’s managing director, Richard Arnold, told Associated Press:

“That’s something we continue to look at, as always making sure that the preparations we do on the pitch come first,”

Arnold also spoke on Van Gaal, who had problems with the pre-season tour, which he said had affected the team’s season build-up.

“I can only speak positively of my experience with the manager in terms of his understanding of what’s required to get a first-class team on to the pitch and also what’s required for running a club of our magnitude,” he said.