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The headline may be a little misleading since there have only been three Manchester United managers in the English Premier League era since the division was launched back in 1992/93. These were Sir Alex Ferguson from 1986 to 2013 and then fellow Scotsman David Moyes from July of 2013 to April of 2014 and now Dutchman Louis van Gaal, who took over at the start of the 2014/15 campaign. However, statistics show that the 64-year-old Van Gaal is the worst of the bunch. The Dutchman took over from Moyes and guided United to a fourth-place finish last year with 70 points.

Luckily for the manager, the team finished four points ahead of fifth-place Tottenham Hotspur and earned a berth in the qualifying stages of the 2015/16 European Champions League tournament. United managed to qualify for the group stage, but went crashing out of it. The club ended up in the second-tier Europa League and was embarrassed 2-1 in Denmark by the nation’s champion Midtjylland in the first leg of their round-of-32 home and away tie. In addition, after 26 games of the Premier League season, United was sitting in fifth place with 41 points from a record of 11 wins, eight draws and seven defeats.

The 41 points puts United six points behind Manchester City for the fourth and final Champions League spot and 12 points behind league leaders Leicester City. Moyes was hated by United fans and he lasted just 51 games with the club before being sacked. While in charge, his squad scored an average of 1.68 goals per game and he had a winning percentage of 52.9 per cent. Van Gaal has been in charge of 64 Premier League matches and has a winning percentage of 48 per cent with his team averaging just 1.45 goals per game. In all competitions, Van Gaal has overseen 83 United fixtures with a winning percentage of 49.4.

Both Van Gaal and Moyes pale in comparison to Ferguson, who saw his side score 2.01 goals per match and owned a 65.2 winning percentage in league play and 59.7 percent in 1,500 games in all competitions. In addition, the lowest point total a Ferguson-managed Premier League team ended up with in a Premier League season was 75 on two occasions. The club finished with 64 with Moyes’ in charge, but of course he was sacked before the campaign ended and essentially replaced by Ryan Giggs. Van Gaal managed 70 points last year and the maximum amount he can achieve this season is 77, but United would have to win all of their remaining 12 games.

There’s an excellent chance Van Gaal won’t be in charge when United’s 2016/17 season kicks off and it’s been rumoured that former Chelsea boss of Portugal could be hired. But if he is, United need to make sure they don’t sign him to an extended contract like they did with Moyes and Van Gaal. Moyes was handed a gift with a six-year deal while Van Gaal was given a three-year deal. They’d be better off giving their next manager a two-year contract and see how things go from there.