Manchester United

Gill reflects on busy summer

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