Louis Van Gaal installs 500m worth of electronic surveillance equipment at Manchester United's training ground

The Independent - Jonny Evans thought he knew all about scrutiny after eight years in the white heat of Manchester United but the last two weeks have taken it to another level. Louis van Gaal’s relentless quest to analyse which of his players will belong to the club’s future have seen him install video surveillance equipment at the training facilities where the club have worked across the United States. The scrutiny of it has been painstaking.

“I think it’s a lot more detailed at the training ground,” says Evans, of the battery of camera equipment which also awaits the players back home at Carrington. “They have spent thousands on it and a few of the lads have seen HD cameras around the pitch.” He is right. Van Gaal has ordered an investment of £500,000 on this technology above the practice pitches in Manchester. The suspicion among United’s players is that he was having footage sent to him even when he was at the World Cup with the Netherlands, allowing him to begin his assessments while the players worked with Ryan Giggs and Albert Stuivenberg, the new assistant coach. This scrutiny of training sessions is something new to British football.

I get that this is in line with Van Gaal's hardass nature and the complete overhaul going on in Manchester, but think this might be a little too far? This is some straight George Orwell 1984 shit. I understand that you need to make sure people are professional while they're at the training facilities and instilling a more no-nonsense attitude towards the game, especially after the debacle that was last year, but do you really think a bunch of guys who can't take a shit in peace because they're afraid their wiping technique will be analyzed by the coaching staff are really going to be playing the kind of free flowing, attacking soccer that Van Gaal is going to want out of his team? Fuck no.

If he does go through with the plan, Van Gaal absolutely NEEDS to outsource the video surveillance to make sure he gets the most out of the system. I'd be more than happy to sit on my ass all day and make sure Shinji Kagawa doesn't get up to any shenanigans. I'd give anything to be a fly on the wall when that creepy fuck is in a room by himself. Classic asian creep show city.