DAVID GILL: I don't think we do regret the way we handled it. We were protecting a player, an asset. We clearly felt the goalposts had been moved. Previously people were treated anonymously particular on a drugs situation which is obviously highly emotive. They have been treated anonymously even after the verdict had been reached.
We had to support our player and genuinely felt, like Rio has said, that it was an honest mistake. It is important to know that Manchester United never said, and Rio Ferdinand never said, that a mistake hadn't been made. We never said there wasn't a case to answer. There clearly was.
Have you learnt any lessons from this saga?
There are a lot of lessons to be learned. We can all learn lessons. It was an unfortunate incident and I think it was a situation that shouldn't have happened.
Some of the issues weren't just at the club's door.
The FA has probably learnt from some of the things that came out of it. I know we have. We have our own internal procedures in place so this kind of thing couldn't happen again.
The FA is looking how the whole disciplinary process is working within football and we support some of their recommendations. We did meet with them and we think anything that can improve the clarity of procedures is quite right and are implemented.
Football is the loser generally. We have lost and everyone has lost so let's move on, learn from it and hope it never happens again.
What changes have United made internally to their training ground drugs testing procedures?
In an out-of-match testing situation when a player is pulled out of the hat and chosen he will be chaperoned by an external person from the time that he is identified, to the time he takes the test. It is not rocket science.
Do you regret letting him play on?
Not at all. We felt we had a case to answer and we had a good case. We genuinely believe to this day that it was an honest genuine mistake and we never imagined the punishment would be eight months. The precedent dictated that it was unlikely to be that. We don't regret he played for that period.
Considering the way the defence has collapsed since his ban, do you regret not buying a defender in the January transfer window?
We discussed buying a defender. The view was the priority at that time given the way we were playing was that we needed support up front and that is why we bought Louis Saha. Louis was a great prospect but also available for the Champions League. If we had wanted to buy in a top class defender we would have, (a): had to identify him and (b): had to extract him from his club and (c): he would probably be cup tied for the Champions League anyway. So we didn't do it.
Can United still compete in the transfer market with the big spenders?
We have a very strong balance sheet. We are very comfortable we are generating cash. We can compete successfully in the transfer market.
But we will compete on our terms. Namely the manager will assess what he believes a player is worth and he will discuss that with the board and then we will go after that target. If we can achieve it at that target, great, but if we can't we will have to move on to the next player.
In the Arjen Robben case we went back to PSV with a revised offer from what we thought our assessment of the value of the player. We thought it was a sensible offer given how the transfer market was.
The transfer market has changed. In the whole of Europe last year there were only five transfers in excess of £10m if you exclude Chelsea.
Would that mean the big spenders have first choice because they'll outbid Manchester United?
It is very easy to say we can't compete (with the likes of Chelsea) but we can compete, we have competed and we will always compete.
Players aren't quite as mercenary as people make them out to be. Some of them are but some aren't.
A lot of them want to come and play for Manchester United. They want to play because Alex has a record of giving youth a chance and we have the history and heritage of Manchester United. That is very attractive.
We have the fact we sell out every week to 67,500 and hopefully 75,000 in the future. We have a lot of assets. Manchester United is a name that goes worldwide and players want to play for us.
I have examples of players I know in my time here who come to Manchester United for less than they'd have got at other clubs.
Robben was snatched from under United's noses by Chelsea because they offered a lot more money to his club than United.
Arjen Robben would have liked to come to us. We made what was a very significant offer (£8.5m) for a player of 19 who had great potential. Our scouts had assessed him. Unfortunately that wasn't enough for PSV. So we move on.
We chased it but if you are after a winger you look at maybe three but you only need one. So if you don't get number one you move onto number two.
Is Sir Alex Ferguson's choice now limited then?
We don't have major limits in the transfer market. We have sensible fans and sensible policies. Yes, in 2002 we bought Rio Ferdinand for a lot of money and before that Juan Veron and Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Now we have re-assessed it. We have a mixture. We still paid £12.8m for Louis Saha. We still paid £12m for Cristiano Ronaldo. But we have also bought others around the £3-5m mark and let's hope they come off. Tim Howard was £2.5m and a great buy.
Do you think Chelsea are paying over the odds for players then?
All I can do is assess the value from Manchester United perspective. Whatever Chelsea do, they may have a different criteria, and different financial assets.
Is Sir Alex Ferguson frustrated by what the club are willing to pay for players?
You'd have to ask Sir Alex Ferguson if he's frustrated. He's never indicated that.
Do you have a list of players to go for in the summer?
Funny you should ask that! (reaches into his pocket). We discuss that with the manager at the end of the season. The manager sits down with me; I sit down with the board. We assess the success of the year. The manager assesses whose coming through the academy system. His job is to look at what is happening in European and world football.
We spent significant money in the January window on Louis Saha. And have acquired Liam Miller.
You've had to pay off Fabien Barthez's contract at a cost of £5m. Was that good business for United?
It was good business for us and for Fabien. Tim Howard and Roy Carroll are in their mid-20s and pretty young for goalkeepers and the manager is very comfortable with them.
He is 33 in June so we thought it was good business for us to terminate his contract.
Sir Alex Ferguson signed a new contract this year. How long do you expect him to stay?
That's the beauty of a rolling contract - we don't know. He is very fit and very motivated and committed. The rolling contract was designed to specifically take away some of that retirement talk and retirement issue. As long as he feels fit and we are performing long may it continue.
Chelsea sounded him out last summer about taking over at Stamford Bridge. Now their plans for Sven Goran Eriksson have collapsed is there anything in the manager's contract that stops him joining another Premiership club?
I would be absolutely amazed if he ever entertained that idea.
What do you think of Arsenal and their challenge to United?
Arsenal are a great team. But we lifted the trophy eight times in 11 years.
Would we prefer to be lifting it? Of course we would. You can't look back, we have to look forward and say what are we going to do get it back next year. Every time they have won it we have won it the next year.
You pulled out of the FA Cup in 2000 but now that is the only trophy left for United to win. Is that not a touch ironic?
The FA Cup is important to everyone at the club. We have a great record in it and we want to win a trophy.
I don't think it is an irony.
What stage are the plans at for enlarging the Old Trafford's capacity?
The stadium expansion is currently at the feasibility stage and has to go through that.
We have to get planning permission. It is technically quite complex.
We are very excited by the prospect of that project.
It is sensible use our cash. It should deliver a further 7,500 seats roughly.
We would love to see that they were on stream by season 2006-07 and would take capacity up to 75,000. Further news on that will be forthcoming over the coming months.
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The most important thing he said here was, we spent signficant money in Jan!!
Don`t hold you breathe boys for any major signings in the summer from this board! Yeah loved the patronising tone about sensible fans,now what can that mean,those who tow the line,don`t rock the boot, or is it a kick at those who speak their mind because they love this club and are not short sighted or blind and that we have problems our board will not acknowledge or conviently ignores.
Good. But we must do better in the transfer market and get the player interest-cash carrot balance right. Also remember, the Chelsea guy will be willing to buy anybody we show interest in just to prove he was right to move house. We must not also let him nab Rio, least people say the test thing was deliberate to annoy SAF into selling.
I think Mr Gill is overestimating the pulling power of United at the moment. Chelsea are prepared to make multi millionaires out of players that havent really proven anything. Ive remember vividly Robbens father saying there was no way whatsoever that Robben would sign for Chelsea. He seemed like a man of his word. It must have taken a lot of money for him to change his mind, and ive read the rumours about how much he's on.
Arsenal are have quickly emerged as the team players want to play for. They play an exciting style of football and they have a manager, who, like Fergie, has proven he can turn good players in to world class players. We would be foolish to rely on players opting for OT in favour of Chelsea's millions or Wengers Arsenal. As the Ronaldinho or Robben stories proved, we can very easily end up with egg on our face.
If the United board identify a player, and his club are prepared to sell, we should pay the price (within reason). So far, ive not seen any players sign for any other clubs for transfer fees that arent justified. Its just that we've been too busy looking for bargains. Hopefully, this seasons failings have shaken things up a little in the OT boardroom.
When looking at the situation Leeds Utd. are in right now one realises how important it is to have respomceble decision making within a football club. I do not think that we, the Man Utd fans, should take for granted the good financial situation our club is in. It is because it has been proberly run and therefore the club can compete for the best players and it should. It is not the other way around, success does not come with high profile and expencive players. There are many examples to prove that. As soon as Man Utd start to make unresponceble deals and pay stubit transfer fees and sky high salaries for not so good players we will find our selvs in the same situation as Leeds are in right now. It is by no means a law of the nature that the financial situation of MUFC is as good as it is. IB4m not saying we shoud not be going for the best players, because we should as we need to to keep the club at the top where it belongs.
I am convinced that it is not a easy job to run a football club. Just look at how many are in deep trouble. Although one might disagree witho some of the dissions made I think that in general Alex Ferguson, Davild Gil and others who are responcible for running Man Utd are doing a good job. Just imagine how many fans of other football clubs would love to trade places with us.
He's very coy,basically he's not committing himself to anything. I didn't like that we've spent a lot of money in january comment. Sal is absolutely right and Jericho to a point. SAF has put us up there with the big boys in europe on the back of home grown talent and a Euro reject (Eric). Slowly we've been bringing in international players but really the only big name that's come here is Veron, and that's because he had all that trouble with his passport and Lazio were/are skint. I think that for the top European players & and the British press we're still second best to the milans and the madrids. When Barcelona bought Ronnie they were over 100 million in debt but they saw it as an investment and they were right, they'll do the same this year and whoever they choose we won't stand a chance of outbidding them or persuading the player to come here. I assume that the board realises this and therefore has adopted the policy of buying prospects who aren't attracting attention from the clubs we can't compete with. However if a player is prepared to come here but the problem is money then there is no excuse. The ship canal will never be able to compete with the Med but our cheque book should be able to compete with any.
I agree with Sal, "we spent significant money during the transfer window" ....does this mean very limited funds during the summer? I honestly hope not because its been proved that we weren't good enough this year so a lot of new faces are required this summer. We can get rid off Forlan,Butt,Kleberson and P Neville for a start and replace them with quality established players who don't need to cost an arm or leg. Eg Southgate and Van Buyten total cost B#8m . Van der Vaart B#15m. Exchange Rio for Duff and B#10m. That 4 proven players.
SAL (and others), if you're not happy with the way the PLC board are running the club, what would you like to see? Would you like to see us trying to compete with the crazy money Chelsea and Real Madrid spend? If so, how do you expect the club to be around in the long-term without a Russian billionaire white knight or a local authority willing to buy our training ground for B#200M+ and let us still use it (as Madrid's did!)?
We have spent some serious cash during the last five years. The problem is that we have spent it on players who haven't succeded at OT, Veron (whom I thought would bring another dimension to our team), Forlan, Barthez to name a few. We have also paid over the odds a couple of times, Rio, Ronaldo and Saha. I don't expect that we'll sign any top name during the summer, like Totti or Samuel. We'll probably sign a left-sided midfielder and a defender plus Miller. Maybe the board will attempt top get van der Waart as well. But I'm sure the board are worried over the emergence of Chelsea and the brilliance of Arsenal and they probably regret that they didn't sign Duff or Ronnie during the summer. And this might get them to spend some cash during the summer. Hopefully Fergie can identify the players that will improve our team.
This is quite tipical of British attitude. Stick your face in the sand and think nothing will happen. If we got Ranaldhino we would be in the Premireship, Champ League and Would have won the treble. This can be said with confidence as we know how he has performed. Guys on the board are business men without the ability to think out of the box. How much have we lost as a result of being out of the Champions League and in the end the Premireship. Do your maths guys and you would have paid nothing for Ronaldhino.
There is an Argentinian who could make up for this mistake but sadly we will missout and wait till he goes elsewhere and try to pay a pittance to get him and get kiked on our butt.
Sadly unless we are taken over by someone or the Fans take over the club this situation is not going to improve. We will end up being one of the mid placed clubs in the next few years and slowly fad away.
It doesn't really matter. Howards a class act and getting better, Rio will be back to reform the best central defence in the premiership. Brown looked like he's getting back to his best against Arsenal. Gary's got the experience, Phil, O'Shea and Fortune the flexibility. Roy Keane, enough said. Kleberson is a class act who will have settled into life at OT. Djemba Djemba has looked great, full of energy, enthusism and will sweat blood for the club. Giggs has been playing so well and exploding so fast he's turning back the clock. Ronaldo will be world class in 2 years. Solskjaer's so good that SAF thought that he could let Beckham go. That may have proven the case too had it not been for his first major injury. Ruud will be back on form and re-establish himself as the best centre-forward in the world. Saha his 1 of the 4 best strikers in 1 of the 3 best leagues in the world, and will get more goals next year. Somehow the future doesn't look that bad. We are perhaps 2 players away from ruling at home and abroad if everyone comes back fit, hungry and on form next season. A really solid defender of proven quality and a flair-player/playmaker of note and we would be sorted. What about Totti and Puyol? That would cost a bit, and it doesn't garentee success, but lets face it, that would have made the difference so often when we just came up short this season. The red sun will rise again, we will have our vengence. Arsenal and Chelsea play their games well, but they have no idea what will happen, they have wounded the beast, he will be merciless, cruel and simply, unstopable. United to go unbeaten in the Premiership next season.
As far as I see it this plc is more concerned with foreign tours and revenue, concerned more with its public image than our on the field activities.In all our business dealings(transfers etc) this plc puts its continued profit making at the fore front which in cases ties the managers hands in the type and class of player availble to us! Now I for one don`t believe we should pay over the odds for any player but in the same sense no-one should be beyond our reach! Off course we need a well run and financially secure club but to what ends! Are we to keep our spending to a minimum to keep profits growing to keep our shareholders and market happy? Surely this is short term gain at the long term expense of the actual football team! There has to be a balance,where if the plc wants the brand to grow it has to invest properly(world class players) and if not on a regular basis,where and whenever its deemed necessary without monetary restraints being placed on us.Now to the question of one owner.Theres been a lot of unwelcome hype from our own board concerning Chelsea`s spending. In a way its understandable as they`re using this to in a sense justify many of their own policies!I would wait and see how this pans out before rushing to judge but one things clear, Chelsea have been revolutionised! From a team of no hopers to world class.Now if we had one owner willing to take us to the next level(a level we`ll never reach under this board) with a long term management programme and propery funded spenting related to our present growth I for one would welcome a take-over!
Hope this answers your question,the boy h.
A lot of exclamations there SAL! We have the biggest brand in football and while that is obviously not entirely down to the PLC, the marketing activities (which produce substantial profits) have been significantly developed since the club listed. We have also seen the most successful period in the club's history since it became a PLC & that is not a coincidence. How on earth can you say that Chelsea are world class? How do you judge that? We don't know whether Abromovich will be around in 2 years time, let alone 20 - we do know he is NOT a lifelong Chelsea supporter so the chances are he will get bored of it sooner rather than later. United will be there or there abouts both in the Premiership and the Champions League for the forseeable future and that can ONLY be achieved by running the club as a proper business. We have invested big in players in recent seasons (Rio, Ruud, Veron, Saha, Ronaldo, etc) so I don't see how the board can be seen to be skimping on that side of things. Ronaldinho wanted to go to Barca, these things happen. Do NOT judge our future prospects by a poor season in which we have been completely hamstrung by injuries and suspensions and distracted by the RoG thing. We will be very strong next season, mark my words.
Oh bravo,bravo mr Gill.What an excellent years figures and it`s kept the old portfolio ticking over! The idea of a ground increase spot on,have yoy given proper consideration to the ratio of EXC Boxes to seated fans,remenber we generate more cash!
Same old drivel that Kenyon came out with in a similiar Q&A about a year ago. And look what's happened to him!
Take anything Gill says with a pinch of salt 'cos him and his ilk move the goal posts whenever it suits them, just like the directors of any company, whether football or not.