There were no big speeches, no grand addresses or pledges to return Manchester United to the summit of English football.

They will undoubtedly come in time, but Louis van Gaal began his first official day as United manager yesterday by taking a short tour of the club’s Carrington training complex in the company of Ryan Giggs, his new assistant, before introducing himself to the players.

Van Gaal spent a few minutes addressing each member of the squad present — the majority of United’s World Cup representatives remain on holiday — although the Dutchman barely uttered a word when he observed his first United training session from the sidelines last night.

United had already trained for two and a half hours in the morning — double