David Gill took time out from United's busy pre-season
schedule to chat to MUTV about the many changes at Old Trafford
over the summer, and his excitement about the campaign ahead.
Here's what United's chief executive had to say...
David, it was an eventful Asia Tour; was it
ultimately a success?
Definitely. Of course, when we
landed in Kuala Lumpur the first text message I got was about the
Jakarta bombings, so we had to make a quick decision to cancel the
Indonesia leg of the tour. It was disappointing, but it was the
right decision and we settled in Malaysia with everyone pulling
together to arrange a second game. Asia is a key region for us, and
these tours are a combination of working with our commercial
partners and seeing our many fans. In that sense, it was a great
success.
Another headline-grabbing summer story was the surprise
arrival of Michael Owen. How have you assessed his impact so
far?
Sir Alex is the best person to measure that, but
watching from the sidelines I’ve been delighted. He’s enthusiastic
and very happy to be here. We’d discussed signing him for a while –
we were aware that he was out of contract at the end of the season,
so he was someone we kept an eye on. I hope he’ll prove to be a
great signing for us.
What are your thoughts on Cristiano Ronaldo's departure to
Real Madrid?
Well, I think Alex said it all: he gave
us six wonderful years of service, he was a great player and played
a big part in our success. We’re disappointed he’s gone – he’s the
best player in the world – and we’ll miss him. But we’ll make
amends: we’ve brought in good players and other players will
respond. Hopefully we play against him and Real Madrid this
season... and beat them easily!
Is it unprecedented for a fee of that
magnitude to be paid as a one-off lump sum?
It is,
yes, but we insisted on that and we felt it was appropriate,
especially given that we didn’t want to sell Cristiano – he wanted
to go. So we felt we had a strong negotiating position. And given
what was going on in the financial world at the time I much
preferred getting the money up front as opposed to worrying about
bank guarantees.
Were you also disappointed to see Carlos Tevez leave, and
then join City?
I’m disappointed he left, but we move
on. In the end we decided to pay the asking price and made Carlos a
very good offer. He chose not to accept that and felt his
opportunities lay elsewhere. He did well for us for two years and
was a key player, but Alex is confident we’ve replaced him well.
We’ll see what happens when we play City in September, which will
be an interesting game with plenty of media attention. I hope he
gets a good reception at Old Trafford, and that we win, of
course.
The manager says he won’t make any more signings. Is
that how you see things?
Very much so. We’re not in
the market for paying a lot of money for players who are 27, 28 or
29. We don’t think it’s good value. That would be their last
contract and at the end of that contract they won’t be worth a lot
of money. We’re happy to pay significant sums of money for players
up to the age of about 25. We’re pleased at the moment with the
squad we have and a number of young boys are coming through – we
have high hopes for Federico Macheda and Danny Welbeck. We’ve also
bought in Valencia, Obertan and Diouf from Molde. He’ll join up
with us in January. That’s where we’re at, although it’s worth
reiterating that people should trust Sir Alex when it comes to what
the squad needs. Just because we have a lot of money in the bank,
it doesn’t mean we have to spend it.
Finally, are you looking forward to the new
season?
Absolutely. The intensity’s building all the
time and everyone is raring to go on the field. Off it, season
ticket sales have gone well – I’m very happy with that – as have
executive sales in a difficult market, and we’re bringing in new
partners. I’m looking forward to the new season and I’m sure the
fans will get behind us for another great campaign.