The new United?

The World Cup is over so now my attention is fully back to Manchester United. Their US pre-season tour starts with a game against LA Galaxy in a week. This will be the first sighting of the new kit, and the new manager. The new era. Most of us probably said the exact same thing last year, with the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson and the arrival of David Moyes. But it feels different this time. Even more significant, somehow. It feels like a completely new United. Although, it could feel like this just because I want to put last season behind me; forget it ever happened. Maybe I want this season to feel like a different United because I don't want last season to repeat itself. In any case, there are a lot of changes happening at the club.

Backroom reconstructed

Louis van Gaal arrived at Carrington yesterday to start his tenure as United's new manager. He's pretty much fresh off the plane from his amazing World Cup campaign, bringing the Netherlands to finish third. He will lead the United preseason team who fly out to the US in a few days. Van Gaal seems a completely different manager compared to Moyes, which gives hope to a lot of United fans after last season. And, with the managerial change, there are a lot of changes in the coaching staff too.

Ryan Giggs is our assistant manager. I'm almost certain that the people Moyes brought are now all gone, except Phil Neville might have a chance of getting a role. It was confirmed during LvG's first press conference that has just ended, that Nicky Butt is already helping out, and he's trying to find roles for both Neville and Paul Scholes. I'm quite happy that he's trying to keep the Class of '92 boys around.

Players in, players out

The changes are not limited to the backroom staff; our squad has lost a lot of experience over the summer, while looking to get a few younger players in. United fans had a very exciting couple days when the club announces the singings of Ander Herrera –– who we've reportedly been scouting for 3 years –– and Luke Shaw. It's always exciting when we get new, young, talented players, but I'm still expecting at least one world class, proven name to be added to the squad. Not saying that Herrera and Shaw aren't great players –– I'm sure they'll both be great at United –– it's just that they're still young and developing. Chelsea got Cesc Fabregas, while Arsenal signed Alexis Sanchez and possibly Sami Khedira. They're definitely bigger names than Herrera and Shaw. Hopefully Arturo Vidal, especially with Michael Carrick reportedly out for around 10 weeks after an ankle injury sustained during training.

However, the experience we've lost over the summer is irreplaceable. At least not this summer. Ryan Giggs, our most senior and most decorated player has ended his playing role to focus on his assistant management position. We've also lost our three most experienced defenders in Nemanja Vidic (joining Inter), Rio Ferdinand (free transfer to QPR), and Patrice Evra (Juventus is rumored to sign him). Evra technically hasn't left yet, but all signs point to it happening. We have signed Shaw to be our starting left back, but I was really hoping for Evra to stay to help out, and for his presence in the dressing room.

In the case of Nemanja Vidic, during an interview with MUTV after the season was over, he seemed to imply that he might have decided to stay had he known that Moyes was heading out the door. It's a shame if it's true. Vidic is still a reliable defender and a great leader. I would love to see him in United shirts for a few more seasons. With Vidic gone, if Evra leaves United would have lost their captain and vice-captain in one summer. That's a huge change.

I'm actually unsure of how I would feel when the United vs Inter preseason match comes around. It would be nice seeing Vidic again, but it might be a little heartbreaking that he's on the wrong side.  In any case, he's been an amazing player for the club and I wish him the very best at Inter.

Compared to last season, when we lost Paul Scholes (I do miss him) and added Maroune Fellaini to the squad, this season's team changes are huge.

The new look

Adding to the personnel changes, this new United will have a new look. The new kit by Nike is...meh. Design wise it's just alright, I guess. The new main sponsor, Chevrolet, will need some time getting used to! I believe this is the first time that United's shirt sponsor uses a colored logo instead of a white outline only. The silver and gold, in my opinion, don't really go with the red. I'd prefer if it was just the white "Chevrolet" name instead of the logo. But I'm sure I'll get used to it. I mean, it's already working. I drove past a Chevy dealer today and my first thought was of United. The away jersey hasn't been officially announced yet, but the rumored design looks slightly better. Mostly because the white shirt goes better with the gold. A part of me wants a black away jersey, because we haven't had black in a few years. But last season's away jersey, which would be this season's third jersey, is dark blue so maybe black would be too similar.

Anyways... The huge Chevrolet logo really adds to the feeling that this is a new Manchester United team. And, it will look even stranger next season when adidas replaces Nike. We've been a Nike team for 10 years, so a Nike-United jersey just seems familiar. Adidas would be...strange. Hopefully it won't be just a three-stripes on the sleeve shirt like most adidas jerseys are these days.

Speaking of adidas, can I just say how insane the deal we got is? It's a minimum of £750m for "ten-year agreement with adidas for a global technical sponsorship and dual branded licensing deal." I'm not quite sure what that means, other than that they're making our kits. We're getting more than twice what Real Madrid is getting for adidas each year:

Current kit deals per annum, by SSN

The number is pretty shocking. I assume sooner rather than later teams like Real Madrid and Barcelona will get deals closer to ours (although maybe not surpassing us because United is a bigger brand, globally, especially in Asia). But still, I thought it was ridiculous when the rumors started throwing around those numbers. I mean, when Chelsea signed their latest deal last season, people thought their £30m/year deal was pretty huge:

From DailyMail, the numbers when Chelsea signed their deal last year

New, but the same

I think, more than anything, this season also feels like United is finally moving on from the Sir Alex Ferguson era. David Moyes was hand-picked by Ferguson. Moyes had said he disliked the "Chosen One" banner at Old Trafford –– it makes it seem like he didn't earn the job, but given it –– and I think it really shows that no one was making it easy for him to step out of Ferguson's shadows. With Van Gaal, it feels different. In a good way. I never thought I'd say this but I'm glad that it feels like we're moving on from Ferguson. But, I hope this means the return of the old United. And by that I mean winning the league and playing good football. The boys should be off to the US soon to start their preseason. I can't wait. Hopefully I can watch the games.

Bring on the season!