Former Manchester United youngster Regan Poole has explained why he loved working under Louis van Gaal at Old Trafford.
The former United boss split opinion among many fans, but was popular with players, with his ex captain and club legend Wayne Rooney recently explaining why.
Rooney said he was "devastated when Louis was sacked" and described working under Van Gaal as an "absolute joy" in a recent column and Poole - whose only United senior appearance came under the Dutchman - had said something similar.
Speaking to Tribal Football about his time at the club, which came to an end last summer when his contract expired and he joined MK Dons, Poole waxed lyrical about Van Gaal.
"He was really good to the young lads and he’s done that throughout his career," said Poole.
“He was a great coach, a great coach. He was good to be around, laughing and joking in training, so I really enjoyed working with him and he improved me a lot as well.”
As well as Poole, Van Gaal handed senior debuts to academy graduates Paddy McNair, Tyler Blackett, James Weir, Donald Love and Joe Riley - as well as current first team trio Marcus Rashford Jesse Lingard and Andreas Pereira.
Poole still looks back on his time at United as a useful experience for his career, having joined as a teenager from Newport.
He added: "You’re working with best coaches in the world, so it’s a given you improve as a player, and technically when I joined I became a much better player. They improved me massively.
“In the first team, training is leading up to the next game, whereas when you go into under-23s they’re improving you as a player. They do a lot of technical drills with the ball at your feet. They improved me massively with the small little drills that we’d do.
“I joined coming from the first team in Newport, and I realised from going there how different it is training with the Under-23s to improve you as a player.”
