Van Gaal was sacked by United just two days after winning the FA Cup in 2016, with Jose Mourinho replacing him less than a week later.

Despite United finishing fourth in the Premier League in Van Gaal's first season at the club, they came fifth in the 2015-16 campaign, meaning they were unable to qualify for the Champions League.

"They told me only after it was leaked out, it was the biggest disappointment of my life," Van Gaal told Algemeen Dagblad. "The pressure was enormous with my head in the noose and they went right behind my back.

"I think it was all orchestrated like a film and it was done very much behind my back right from January [2016]. United put my head in a noose and I was publicly placed on the gallows.''

Van Gaal was two years into a three-year contract at United when he was dismissed, meaning the club had to pay him a reported compensation fee of £8.4 million.

"United did not discuss this [the management change] with me," he added. "If they had come to me with the Mourinho plan then I could have said, 'OK, let's give it everything for the last six months, complete commitment to each other and the team and then Jose Mourinho can take over.'

"They could have saved the last year of my salary by doing that but after what happened I made them pay every penny."

Mourinho, meanwhile, has said that United failed to evolve under Van Gaal and his predecessor David Moyes, describing their tenures as an "empty period" for the club.