Thank you, Louis van Gaal

Mixed emotions as news is leaked that Louis van Gaal appears to have lost his job as Man United manager. He seemed convinced that he would stay to see out the third and final year of his contract, but news leaked (allegedly by Jose Mourinho's agent, Jorge Mendes) suggests the FA Cup final win will be his last game in charge.

Looking back at his last two years, it's clear van Gaal has under-achieved. But he hasn't been a total disaster either. Let's look at his transfers first.

He's spent a lot of money and some of them haven't worked out, but van Gaal has reduced the age of the squad and leaves us in a much better place than when he took over. The make-up of the dressing room has dramatically changed, with big leaders in Vidic, Ferdinand, Evra and Fletcher all departing and leaving very big boots to fill - and it's clear Schweinsteiger was brought in to try to replace that experience and winning mentality. Unfortunately he has been injured a lot (one of the fears when we signed him) and has only played well in fits and starts. Crucially, in the big games (e.g. Wolfsburg in CL) he didn't control the game like he was signed to do. Schneiderlin, Darmian, Rojo, Herrera and especially Memphis Depay have struggled to consistently impress, but I believe they are all good players and with a year's experience under their belt they will be better next season - look at the stick Luke Shaw got first year and compare it to the way he started this season before his injury. Having him back next year will be a big plus. The other positive signings have been Daley Blind and very obviously Anthony Martial, who looks like he could be the consistent match winner needed to win premier league titles.

The other big positive is obviously the amount of young players given their chance under van Gaal. Rashford, Lingard, Borthwick-Jackson and Fosu-Mensah have really stood out, but Paddy McNair also looked good last year and there are plenty of others who have broken into the first team. Critics say van Gaal stumbled across these players or had to play them because of injuries, but that is unfair - he specifically said he likes a small squad so young players get the chance when injury came along, and he wouldn't have got rid of so many squad players if he didn't have faith in them. I also think that every player in the squad will have learnt from van Gaal and will ultimately be a better player in the long-run thanks to his coaching - if only for his attention to detail and

So there are definitely things to admire about van Gaal's tenure. Unfortunately, the thing he really fell down on was the playing style. We were simply too risk-adverse and static to break through the packed defences most teams employed, especially at Old Trafford. We actually had a very good record against the bigger clubs , but it was far too easy for most teams to just get ten men behind the ball, allow us possession and be confident that we wouldn't do enough to break through. You can partially blame this on the players, but the lack of shots on goal compared to the huge amount of possession we have suggests the team is told not to shoot unless they are in the perfect position - and this is something van Gaal has to take the blame for. He also never seemed to have a plan B, and whilst it's admirable that he had such faith in his philosophy, he was too slow to recognise when it wasn't working and try to make a positive change.

So overall I'm not too disappointed to see him go, but he deserves credit for the good things he's done and it's great to end with an FA Cup win - a trophy we hadn't won for far too long - so thank you, Louis van Gaal.

Kevin Prince Boateng's protest was vital but does not offer a long term solution

2012’s most stupid argument (are too many goals in football a bad thing? Ummmm no.) got off to a slow start with Manchesters City and United, and even QPR, beginning the year with clean sheets intact.

However, one thing not set to go away in 2013 is the ugly issue of racism. Kevin Prince Boateng was roundly applauded in the world of football this week after refusing to play on following racist abuse from the stands at a friendly match against Pro Patria (Latin for ‘For the Fatherland’... coincidence?).

There were racist chants aimed at a number of black Milan players throughout and midway through the first half Boateng decided enough was enough. He picked up the ball, booted it toward the abusive section and walked off. He was quickly followed by his team-mates and, tellingly, their actions were met by applause from the majority of the crowd and a swift outpouring of support from their fellow professionals on Twitter.

Rio Ferdinand, Vincent Kompany and Patrick Vieira were quick to offer their solidarity and Boateng has since said that he would walk off again but this is where the complications begin. As a wake up call to FIFA this action was very important but it cannot be the way forward in the long term.

Clarence Seedorf argued that walking off at every incident of racism puts the power in the racists’ hands and it is hard to disagree with him. If players were to refuse to complete a competitive game what could the ref do? The three options I can see are:

A) Awarding a defeat against the team refusing to play,

B) Ordering the game to be replayed behind closed doors, or

C) Awarding a defeat against the team of the abusive fans. 

Unfortunately, none of these are viable. 

Lets take the first two options. It is not hard to imagine a situation where a team is 3-0 down with ten minutes to go. A few friends have had a few drinks and think, "I know how to save this game!" The monkey chants begin, the opposition walk off and hey presto, a defeat becomes a win, or at least the chance to start from 0-0. These options not only fail to stop racism but could effectively reward it.

The third option seems fairer on the victims of abuse but it is certainly not foolproof. A lot of clubs fail to sell out their grounds and there is nothing to stop groups of opposition supporters buying tickets for the 'wrong' end and doing the exact same thing, abusing their own players to get three points for their team. It seems like perverse logic but these are not reasonable people. Jacob Steinberg highlighted in this piece the abuse Carlton Cole gets from his own West Ham fans on a regular basis.

The only thing I can see really stopping incidents like this is for FIFA to take radical action and give referees the power to stop matches until the perpetrators have been identified and removed from the ground. The club involved would then be responsible for ensuring that these people were banned for life. This may seem like a drastic measure but once they have been found and banned they will not be back. It would involve clubs policing themselves more heavily, possibly a greater amount of CCTV and even for fans to be brave and inform on their own, but the reaction to Boateng shows that a game without racism is what the vast majority want.

FIFA is notoriously slow in implementing modern solutions and it's years of resistance to goal line technology centred on how this would disrupt the flow of the game, so admittedly this resolution is unlikely, but it would represent a massive step forward and a show of respect to it's players.

Boateng has given FIFA a wake-up call and told them that players are no longer prepared to take racist abuse. Let's hope they respond by ensuring it doesn't need to happen more again.