Manchester United chief executive David Gill says the club are
laying the foundations for a smooth succession whenever Sir Alex Ferguson retires by
investing in young players.
United eschewed making any major signings this summer, despite a
professed interest in David Villa, and instead opted
to recruit unheralded prospects Javier
Hernandez, Chris
Smalling and Bebe.
The club have for some time focused their recruitment strategy
on young players - though Dimitar Berbatov is a notable exception -
and Gill believes that such an approach will leave them well placed
whenever Ferguson decides to step down.
"Obviously at some stage Alex will retire, whenever that may
be," Gill told Sirius XM. "What we're doing with him, with
his coaches and scouts, is getting a great squad with the right age
profile so that a new manager coming in - yes, he will probably
want to change one or two players, that's always the way, or two or
three - but he won't need to make wholesale changes.
"They'll be a sensible transition to the new manager. So that's
where we're at. As I say, it's not something we worry about. We
worry about other things but we don't worry about that.
"He is on a rolling contract for a year but seriously I've not
discussed this issue with him for quite a while. He works and
enjoys it, he talks about his health, he looks after himself in
terms of the gym and exercise and all of that, he delegates well to
the team around him and so long as that desire and enthusiasm is
still there it sort of becomes a non-issue."
Ferguson recently said his replacement must boast extensive
experience if the chosen man is to carry on his legacy at Old
Trafford - a legacy that includes unprecedented success over a
24-year period.
"I tend to agree with that," Gill said of the need for
experience. "It's obviously crucial that the main person at any
football club or an NFL team I suppose, is the coach. What happens
on the pitch is crucial to all of our off-the-field aspirations and
we have to understand that. So someone coming in to take over
Manchester United will have to have that pedigree, will have to
have that logical success and achievement because it's such a big
club.
"But I think the other key asset, or key requirement for someone
coming in, is to understand the history and heritage of the club,
to understand how we work commercially and what we aim to achieve
and to get the right balance there and make sure we can continue as
seamlessly as possible as we have done under Sir Alex.
"Those are the things but identifying that person is not easy
but I'm sure we'll get it right when that times comes and I stress
that we don't know when that is."