Louis van Gaal brings Albert Stuivenberg to United

Posted Monday, July 07, 2014 by theguardian.com

• Stuivenberg is named assistant coach
• Dutchman appointed to develop United’s youth structure

Louis van Gaal has added Albert Stuivenberg, who has experience with Dutch youth teams, to his coaching staff

Louis van Gaal has appointed Albert Stuivenberg, who until recently led the Holland Under-21 team, as an assistant coach at Manchester United. The move casts further doubt over the futures of Phil Neville, Paul Scholes and Nicky Butt.

When previously in charge of Holland Under-17s, Stuivenberg guided the team to the 2011 and 2012 European Championship and his appointment underlines Van Gaal’s determination to develop and harness United’s youth structure.

A club statement said: “Manchester United has made a new coaching appointment with Albert Stuivenberg joining in the role of assistant coach. Albert recently finished as the coach of the Netherlands Under-21 team. In 2011 and 2012, he led the Dutch Under-17 team to their triumphs in the Uefa European Championship. He starts work immediately, working with assistant manager, Ryan Giggs.”

While Van Gaal has appointed Giggs as his No2, and brought in Frans Hoek to replace the discarded Chris Woods as the goalkeeping coach – as well as made Marcel Bout the opposition scout – Scholes, Neville, and Butt are unsure if Van Gaal wants them to stay.

Although Neville had been a member of the coaching team of the former manager David Moyes, before continuing under Giggs when he took over as the interim manager, and Butt was one of the club’s academy staff, other than helping the latter on an ad hoc basis, Scholes was not involved at United after his retirement as a player two seasons ago before the Welshman asked him to assist for the last four matches of the season.

While the club executive is keen that all should remain, the decision rests ultimately with Van Gaal.