Hugo Borst explains comments about Van Gaal's wife

Hugo Borst, a Dutch journalist who used to be a good friend of Louis van Gaal before a falling out, has recently published a biography on the Manchester United manager.

The way he treats Truus in company is ungentlemanly and sometimes downright disgraceful. In the company of friends and acquaintances, Louis has made comments that in nine out of 10 marriages would have been grounds for divorce. People who have lunched or dined with Louis say alcohol does not have a favourable effect on him. Of course he also has sweet things to say about his wife. “I have a lovely wife,” he said on German TV, “and the sex is good too.”

In an exclusive interview with RoM, Borst has explained this judgement in more detail.

“You can strive to be a complete person,” he said. “You can strive to be total and perfect. He isn’t, just like you and me. I was nasty about him and the way sometimes after he has got a couple of wines or a Bacardi and Coke, a couple of people have seen it happening, and I have seen it too, and he can be shouting. Of course, I can be nasty and say awful things to my wife, but I’m aware of the fact that we can solve that problem later on when I am alone with her. The point is that I was there and other people were there. That is a thing the tabloids picked out. Yes, that is true. No, I don’t understand it at all why somebody so big is doing that, because the word “stupid” he is using quite a lot. I can imagine that incompetent people are considered by him to be stupid, but you don’t treat your wife like that. I don’t like that.”

Read the interview with Borst in full.