Mr Capability’s Season Of Strain …
This has been a spring and summer to forget for United’s ‘Mr Capability’ David Gill.
The chief executive’s seasons of strain began with a public recognition that United’s midfield was poor and could only be improved by the signing of a world class midfielder or two. Fans were consoled until it became clear that the midfielder United wanted was no other than Spurs’ Michael Carrick, an £18.6m player whom few would rank yet as world class.
In another breezy and confident intervention, Gill was upbeat about United’s ability to wrap up all transfer business before the beginning of the World Cup.
‘The sooner they get into the United family, the quicker they can integrate’ he suggested. ‘I’d like to do all the [transfer] business before the World Cup but it is not always feasible.’
The task proved unfeasible but that has not stopped disgruntled United fans from taunting Gill for a gaffe so enormous that only a significant trophy at the season’s end will erase it’s ability to antagonise.
During the same interview, Gill said: ‘If the attitude towards Chelsea is that nobody can and will touch them, then we might as well all give up now. Nobody at United subscribes to that view. We are going to strengthen in the summer and can look forward very positively. It is a very exciting time for the club.’
Chelsea used the summer for vigorous team rebuilding, adding a world class striker and left back, two highly promising youngsters and a rugged defender to the country’s strongest squad. United lost their best forward and spent four times less money to bring in Carrick and a keeper from a relegated club.
By the early summer, goofey Gill was well into his stride and found time to ‘diss’ as scaremongers, United fans worried about the future of the club under Glazer. ‘One year on, the scare stories have proved unfounded,’ he said. ‘The club is in good shape. We have the team to compete, the squad to compete and we are looking forward to the new season.’
The new season began however without Owen Hargreaves running United’s midfield, even though Sir Alex Ferguson claimed that negotiations were in Gill’s ‘capable hands.’
Last weekend, Gill suffered what many thought was another gaffe attack. He told a BBC radio audience that United experts had turned down the chance to sign Javier Mascherano.
‘The experts in our club determined that we did not want to go for him. While he is clearly a very good player, it was decided he wasn’t required at the club.’
If that wasn’t bad enough, clanger-meister Gill, also announced United’s wish to revive the Owen Hargreaves transfer next winter. Relations between United and Bayern Munich have worsened in recent times following United’s public courting of a player signed to a 4 year contract with the German champions. Bayern have shown their irritation with United in a number of belligerent statements about the club and its player. Rather than lower the temperature and adopt a more discreet attitude in the hope of softening the Bavarian club’s stance, Gill told listeners that he still held out the hope that a deal would be ‘consummated.’
Does the mere sight of a microphone or journalist’s notebook provoke in United’s chief executive the sudden onset of foot in mouth disease?
Gill’s Masherano comments encouraged a predictable uproar that he should have anticipated. Only a detailed investigation into the terms of the deal that saw Masherano and Tevez sign for the West Ham, has vaccinated Gill against further ridicule.
The players’ agents MSI are believed to have insisted upon clauses and sale conditions that United and a host of other top clubs found unacceptable. It is rumoured too, that MSI’s contract with West Ham contains appearance guarantees, an outrageous imposition on any manager. Under such circumstances, United may have been right to refuse the player even when a loan deal was proposed.
Given the ‘failure’ of many South Americans to adapt to the British game, compared to the legions of northern Europeans who have become stars on this island, Sir Alex might well have been convinced that Hargreaves, some three years older and an experienced international, offered United better value right now.
However, Gill invited fierce criticism by claiming United’s experts had rejected the player. These are mostly the same experts who have snubbed Hargreaves every summer since 2004 but encouraged United to waste money on Forlan, Miller, Kleberson, Bellion and alike.
Gill, is no doubt a decent man, committed to United and a force of stability at the club. In the absence of the media-shy Glazer family, Gill has become one of the club’s public faces. His media prominence testifies to United’s importance in the national order and suggests a confidence in his presentational skills . However, with a recent past of skipping from one PR disaster to another, his performance warrants great improvement. AU
© Copyright: Absolutely United 2006
