Gill's transition to his new role is likely to be smooth, given that he was already
responsible for the day-to-day running of the club. Despite his relative lack of
media profile, he is well known to the FA, Uefa and G14, the self-elected forum of Europe's most powerful clubs, for whom he replaced Kenyon as a vice-chairman yesterday.
The only area in which Gill's expertise is less certain is in dealing with Sir Alex
Ferguson, with whom Kenyon succeeded in establishing a reasonable, if at times dysfunctional, relationship. The United manager is a notoriously tough customer, although he may have reason to suppress his usual cynicism towards money-men, given that a new contract offer is said to be in the pipeline.
"Getting close to Sir Alex is one of my first tasks," Gill said yesterday. "One thing Peter did was work very closely with Alex and, while I was involved with player transfers, Peter was the point of contact."
Ferguson and Gill, 45, will make for a curious couple, given that one is a
chartered accountant from the Home Counties — albeit, somewhat inevitably, a
lifelong United supporter — and the other the son of a shipworker from Govan,
but the manager should not be fooled by thinking that his amiable and well-
spoken new boss is anything less than an authority on football matters. His
knowledge of all levels of the game is impressive and he remains a keen and
more than useful player, his 6ft 4in frame lending him a considerable advantage in his favoured position as centre forward.