Eastern promise for United despite problems, says Gill

MANCHESTER UNITED chief executive David Gill has insisted the Red Devils’ Far East tour was a roaring success despite the endless stream of negative headlines.

Roy Keane, Ruud van Nistelrooy and Rio Ferdinand all found themselves in the news for the wrong reasons, while a crowd well below expectations in Beijing suggested United’s popularity in the region is fading.

Gill admits criticism over the Beijing gate is justified, but is adamant the 10-day four-match trip, which earned the club £6 million (€8.6m), was worthwhile from both a footballing and commercial standpoint.

“It has been a very good tour,” he said.

“There are always things you could learn and things you could do better and the Beijing game was a case in point.

“We can’t hide an empty stadium but we feel there were reasons why it happened and we will work to ensure the same situation doesn’t occur again.

“The first objective has to be to get the team prepared for the upcoming season and from that standpoint it has been a very successful trip.”

United won three of their four matches on a tour which saw them bank around £6million.

Influential club sponsors Budweiser and Vodafone both sponsored matches on tour and the Old Trafford commercial team believe by attaching themselves to such high-profile brand names, they will stand a greater chance of establishing themselves in Asia.

Gill held talks with potential new sponsors, and is confident the groundwork will benefit United in the long-term.

“It is far easier to bring companies to games like the ones we have just had than fly them over to Old Trafford,” he said.

“These tours give us the opportunities to talk with potential sponsors and explain what we are all about. Something may come of it, something may not but the mere fact we can do it is pretty important.”

United have also extended their link with children’s charity UNICEF by another four years, as well as allowing themselves to be used as the driving force for a north-west trade delegation which accompanied the club on their trip.

“Tours to Asia are generally more hectic than those to the United States because the following for football in the region is much more manic,” he said.

“But in every instance, we plan around the team’s needs and work off that. We cut this tour down from 16 days to 10 so the players could do more preparatory work and hopefully when we play our Champions League qualifier on August 9, it will mark the start of a very successful season for us.”