Louis van Gaal gives 'greatest speech of all time' at Manchester United awards dinner

Goalkeeper David de Gea picked up the prizes before giving the stage over to his manager, who proceeded to shout enthusiastically about his team's successes throughout a seven-minute speech.

But not before he had already attracted attention when turning up for the awards do with a rather distinctive haircut.

When on stage later that evening, to cheers and laughs from the assembled crowd, Van Gaal gave a unique appraisal of United's season and spoke at length on one match in particular.

“You remember away game against Chelsea?” he said regarding a match on April 18 at Stamford Bridge, which United lost 1-0.

“No, no, no, you have to listen. I ask you to listen because at that time we have 50 points and then [Wayne] Rooney sat in the dressing room – we go for the second place, he said that. [Before that] six games in a row we win and then we go to Chelsea. Who are the better team then? It’s easy to say that now in this room. I can believe it but it was the truth but we lost.

“We lost that game but can you imagine when you have 80% ball possession you have 10 big possibilities and they have three. They have three and they win the game. When we win that game count the numbers of points we could have won because after that we lost three games in a row. What I want to say to you, we are very close.”

Van Gaal then channelled his inner Kanye West by returning to the stage to upbraid the audience for not giving due recognition to a saxophone player who had performed earlier that night.

Van Gaal's performance earned rave reviews.

Ex-England cricket captain Michael Vaughan described it as the "greatest speech of all time".

A United legend also gave his stamp of approval to the night's star turn.

It seems fairly clear that Van Gaal had enjoyed a drink or two, and we can only applaud both his chutzpah and his delivery in a memorable bit of public speaking. It certainly is a breath of fresh air, in any case: can you imagine any of Van Gaal's predecessors delivering such a performance? Or, for that matter, any one of the other Premier League managers?

The game needs big characters - it's part of football's great pantomime - and Van Gaal is up there with the best. Even if, as Paul Hassall wrote in a blog for us on Monday, the Manchester United boss hasn't quite earned the right to celebrate with such gusto.