Erik ten Hag has brought a fresh focus and intensity to Manchester United's pre-season campaign but there have been moments of levity behind the scenes.
Former United midfielder Darren Fletcher, now the club's technical director, told ten Hag's assistant, Mitchell van der Gaag, he used to have a sticker of him in a football album when he was a boy. Ex-defender Van der Gaag spent two years at Motherwell, between 1995 and 1997, with Fletcher recalling him from his Panini sticker album, when the 50-year-old, now bald, had flowing locks.
Fletcher's fellow Scot Paul Brand, United's head performance analyst, also recalled van der Gaag from the same sticker album, which remained intact at the family home back in Scotland. Brand called his mother, who found the album, took a picture of van der Gaag's sticker and sent it to her son in Perth, who duly shared it with him and the rest of the United coaching staff.
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United had concerns over the pitch at Perth's Optus Stadium for their final tour game, against Aston Villa, after torrential rain had left the playing surface in a treacherous condition. Leeds and Crystal Palace played on the pitch 24 hours earlier, with Jesse Marsch's side sustaining a couple of injuries which were understood to have been caused by the poor playing surface.
Four huge patches of turf had been relayed, with one member of the touring party describing the surface as “barely playable”, but the game went ahead, in front of 60,000 supporters. United flew from Perth straight back to Manchester - via a stop in Bangkok to refuel – after the game against Villa, a 22-hour flight for ten Hag, his players and club staff.
Yet there is no let up in United's relentless pre-season schedule. After a day off on Monday, United are straight back into training on Tuesday, before flying to Oslo on Friday for Saturday's friendly against Atletico Madrid.
United return to Manchester from Oslo straight after the game, with ten Hag's first game at Old Trafford the following day, against Rayo Vallecano, the final warm-up match before their Premier League opener, at home to Brighton, on August 7.
