Manchester United’s brown nose chief executive David Gill believes that the planned protests ahead of the AC Milan game in March to be “ridiculous” and that fans should “get behind the team”. Mr Gill was speaking for the first time since the extent of the debt problems was made public in a bonds issue, which had been met with the same ferocious opposition as was in 2005. Gill has taken a monumental U-turn when assessing United’s need for foreign investment and opposed the take over five years ago.
Gill is clearly living in a dreamland and is out of touch with reality. He is a total hypocrite to have backed the supporters protest in 2005 but then claiming that United fans ‘should be sensible’ and ‘get behind the team’. Fuck off mate. His latest comments clearly shows his disrespect for the fans, the club and his initial fake beliefs:
“I would appeal to the fans to be sensible and get behind the team. We are a very well-run club and given what’s happening at other clubs, people should be proud of what’s happening at Manchester United. It [a protest] serves no purpose and it won’t change a thing. [Milan] will be a tough game and we can’t afford for the fans not to be there. Let’s not have ridiculous protests of that nature.”
The patronising, arrogant and downright moronic view that United fans ought to be ‘sensible’ and that a protest ‘serves no purpose’ shows that he is more concerned with his hefty wage packet than the future of the football club. I’m still bemused as to how he thinks his comments are acceptable. He is basically saying ‘stop your moaning, sit down and give us even more money to hand over to the Glazer family’. Clown. ‘We are a very well run club’ – yep £716million in debt really backs up that claim!
Although Gill was very pleased to announce that Wayne Rooney was going nowhere – probably because he is the most appealing asset to market his financial strategy blue sky thinking Asia plan (the only language these people understand, pure bollocks):
Wayne has a contract through until 2012. He has gone on record to say he wants to stay and we want him to stay. I’m sure that will be addressed in the close season. We hope that would be the case as we want to put him on a new, long-term contract. He’s 24 and has got the best years of his life ahead of him. Very few players, particularly UK-based players, want to leave Manchester United.”
I’m not too sure if Gill actually believes that Rooney will stay after that. After all he has said that he has ‘gone down on record’ – didn’t you Mr Gill back in 2005 oppose the takeover?
But Gill’s right though, isn’t he? The club is solid and well run. We can’t stop the Glazers taking money out of the club but it doesn’t stop us being succesful and signing great players. I got drawn in by the green and yellow scarves thing but it will change nothing. It was a waste of a fiver unless I sell it on eBay to a Norwich fan.
I agreee!!!
Matt – Solid and well run? £716 million in debt. Rising year on year ticket prices. £80 million transfer fee left untouched. Pulling out of signing promising eastern European youngsters. Vidic is off in the summer, think we’ll spend that money as well? Thats why we’ve bought Smelling in.
Not to sound disrespectful, but I honestly think you’re on a wind up.
the way i read the full quote was that he didn’t have a problem with the glazer protest, just the whole not bein there for the first 10mins against milan thing. If this is the case, i agree, i think we should keep protestin as long as it doesn’t harm the team. Boycottin the first 10mins would harm the team’s chances, ie away goals can be scored. We should keep lookin for new buyers and wear the green and gold but keep supportin the team
the protest and the 10 min boycott MUST go on, theres no two ways about it.
Gill is no worse than Fergie to be fair to him. He’s just doing his job and he’s very very good at it. It’s not his fault we’re in debt, it’s the Glazer’s.
You also have to remember that they pay his wages so he has to sing from their hymn sheet or risk losing his job. Fergie has done very much the same and has in fact called them “fantastic owners” in the past.
He is a liar, but he’s only doing what he’s told. Same as Fergie and same as Paddy Crerand a few weeks ago.
The author of this article is a twat. Any United fan who thinks that coming in late for 10 mins in the Milan game will have a negative influence on the Glazers and not on the team should have their heads checked and should stop calling themselves United fans.
People should think rationally for a minute here. Gill’s job is to be a CEO not the fan’s friend. The Glazers pay his wage, so he’ll obviously have to tow the party line, you don’t expect him to speak against them now do you? Even if Gill does think different, as long as he needs this job to feed his family and the Glazers are still the ones paying him, we can’t really get a true reflection from him. People should stop calling him a Glazer appologist, he has no other choice and ANYONE in his position too would do the same and say whatever the Glazers have instructed him to say.
The Glazer’s own figures (figures which they have not even disputed) were running the club at a loss – were it not for the sale of Ronaldo.
So, what you’re saying Matt, is that it makes solid business sense for a milk factory to sell all its bottling machinery as long as it makes a profit
So, Ronaldo wanted to go, it wasn’t the club selling him for profit – but the fact remains that you think that the club is in good hands when it operates at a £40 million loss despite having an annual turnover of the best part of £100 million per year – unless you account for the favourable prospect of the world’s best player WANTING to leave?
Rooney may not choose to leave this summer, we may not even get close to £80 million for him anyway – In fact, we’re in deep shit if Rooney’s loyalty is anything to go by, based on last summer’s transfer dealings – wouldn’t you say?
Arijc – Laughable. If you’re happy for the Glazer family to own United then fine, but don’t come on here spouting nonsense. My problem is that Gill is a hypocrite for backing the protest in 2005 and now taking an enormous U turn. But don’t worry, there are plenty of forums where you can talk about who United will sign in the summer and what hair Gel Nani uses. Next time think about your narrow minded comments before you post.
I did not say that I am happy with the huge amount of debt on the club that the Glazer takeover has thrust upon the club. But I do believe that people like David Gill have enough sense and knowledge to save the club. Do you think that you know more about the financial situation of United than the men who are in the center of it. Do you have a viable exit strategy ready after the removal of the Glazers. In your deluded world aren’t people allowed to change their opinions over time. And you still have answered the question about the effect of the planned ridiculous protest on the team on one of the biggest nights in Europe during the Milan game. Call yourself a United supporter.
And he is right when he talks about the club being solid and well run. The debt is as a result of the Glazers takeover. We can’t do a thing about the debt. Any future takeover will have to repay that debt. I was and am still against the leveraged buyout that the Glazers managed to do, but I don’t believe in all the drivel that the tabloids dish out. Maybe you can broaden your horizons too in this respect.
Ok arijc, I will be as honest as I can with my explanation. Your accusation that I would want United to be hindered against Milan is not the case, even though this may be the objective of some reds. United and Milan have a lot of history from 58, 69 and most recently in 2005 and 2007. Milan are a football institution and I think it will be a great night and atmosphere. The think that I don’t understand is that your attitude seems to be (and correct me if i’m wrong) ‘well, what can I do, what is done is done?’
You are being a tad unfair on me when stating that ‘do you know more about the financial situation that Gill’ – I never claimed that I did. There is a hypocrisy regarding his comments, which i’m sure you’ll back up with ‘every one is a hypocrite’ – but the more and more I hear from Gill makes me more disillusioned with his vision. You claim that I ‘believe the drivel the tabloids dish out’ – do you even know me to state such a claim? I may report on transfers in the papers as it makes an interesting read, but this blog was based upon comments made by Gill out of his mouth.
Football in the past ten years has become more and more of a business, are you happy to see rich owners come in without any love or passion for the game and try and make money out of it? I’m not saying you are but that is what your comments come across as.
Listen – United are always the main priority but who did the takeover benefit more, United or the Glazer family? Do you think that we wouldn’t have signed Evra, Vidic, Berbatov, Nani and Anderson if the Glazer’s weren’t there? Of course we would have done.
There are many more strands to this argument and if you like you are more than welcome to discuss them in here:
http://www.stretford-end.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=5002&start=45
Thanks for contributing.
The only way for United to be debt free is for the
Glaizers to sell the club to wealthy united loving
buisness men.No amount of protest or staying away
from games will change anything, the people who
organize the demos and anti Glaizer rallys are just
on a quest for power themselves.Not buying tickets
and merchandise will just hurt the club and the team.
Surely taking a loan out for umpteen million, buying a company for similar money, then transferring that debt to the company is the same as just taking out a director’s loan? This is what gill warned against 1st time round and must be illegal, if not then why doesn’t everyone do it? Get yourself 100 start ups, then take out a loan for 20k on each business. Give yourself a loan for 20k. Let each company go under, you’re now 2 million up.
Not as much as the glazers who were up to the eyeballs in debt before they bought the reds. Or are they still in debt as the loans were in their names. 540million loan to buy united, where is that cash now? What did they do to pay off their personal debt? I know that if I tried it, hmrc would be straight on my case, and how can the annual director loans be legal too if the club are so heavily in debt with no end in sight? So far they’ve made nearly 600million from the club.
arijc – so what do we do? Wait and see and hope that you are right? Hope that all the financial men have their hand firmly on the accounts and that £716 million is a manageable debt? And that the (American) owners have the football club’s best interests in mind?
To tell you the truth, i would love to believe this. But the sirens have been sounding for sometime. I’m sure everyone at Leeds thought “It’s ok, these guys are professionals, they’ll get us out of it” (include Portsmouth and others on that).
So we either wait, with all our fingers crossed, or we get some answers now. – It doesn’t mean that Stretty is a poor fan (or a twat btw). The things you love the most get tough love sometimes.
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[...] 2005 for £828Million, of which £556Million was borrowed from the bank. Both the Glazer family and chief executive David Gill have both denied that the club is for sale, although David Gill said in August 2004 (the same [...]