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David Gill’s “Out of Context” Cop-Out

The audio, where a United fan questioned David Gill for his contrarian remarks, has been heard, I’m sure, by all and sundry. Well done by that fan to go that far in the first place, however, I do have a gripe with said fan for not being, um, a little more prepared.

Let me explain.

Those living under a rock and, hence, haven’t heard the audio yet, here you go.

The fan showed the banner quoting Gill circa 2004 as saying: “Debt is the road to ruin.” Now, whilst it’s apparent for all of us what that implies, it still helps when you pose a question to David Gill that you come a little more backed up so that when he throws the stock question, about ‘being quoted out of context’, you throw the context right back at him. This were his exact quotes that actually helps resolve the context question quite well:

“The key aspect of that proposal was the level of debt they were going to use in order to make their offer… we’ve seen many examples of debt in football over the years and the difficulties it causes. We know what it means and we think it is inappropriate for the business.”

Dear Mr. Gill, when the level of debt concerned you back then, it makes you come across a little, um, two-faced when you seem to throw your weight behind this venture whole-heartedly now, showing pompous arrogance in a lot of your comments to the fans lately. I know you are an employee of the club, and you are expected to toe the party line, but you could drop the derision in your tone towards the paying supporters who are genuinely concerned about the debts.

[Interestingly, Gill’s interview from 2004 is present in full in the club’s official website]