Tony Strudwick will no longer be working with the first team.
Manchester United’s respected fitness coach Tony Strudwick will no longer be working with the first team at Old Trafford, report the Mail, after a flurry of injuries further disrupted what has been a dreadful start to the season for the Premier League giants.
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Strudwick has been at United since Sir Alex Ferguson brought him to the club from Blackburn Rovers in 2007 and has formed a close relationship with a number of the club’s first team players, making Louis van Gaal’s decision to demote him to youth team a particularly risky one after player unrest was shown following his decision to substitute Angel di Maria during last weekend’s defeat to Leicester City.
The man taking up Strudwick’s role with the first team will be van Gaal’s compatriot Jos van Dijk, meaning that the move could just be a case of a new manager wanting to work with his own staff – but the timing of the change, following a number of high-profile Old Trafford injuries, is perhaps telling.
Centre back trio Chris Smalling, Jonny Evans and Phil Jones have all been ruled out of today’s Premier League clash with West Ham United, forcing van Gaal to delve into the club’s youth system to call up unproven duo Tom Thorpe and Paddy McNair.