Gill backs the Glazers

Manchester United's chief executive, David Gill, today said the Glazers do not want to sell the club and questioned the practicality of the Red Knights' possible takeover bid.

He said "the owners are very long-term owners and have shown that with Tampa Bay, which they took over in 1994-5. They are not sellers, that's not saying people like these Red Knights can't come forward with some ideas.

"But there is no indication to mean that they want to sell and in that case they cannot buy the asset, it's not for sale. The Glazers have no wish to sell and from our perspective they are running the club in the right way."

Gill questioned how a Red Knights takeover would work at United. "The Red Knights proposal, the idea of having 20, 30 or 40 very wealthy people running Manchester United, I don't know how it would work in practice.

"The better-run clubs are where there is clear single decision-making and it's quick and efficient – Roman Abramovich at Chelsea, Sheikh Mansour at Manchester City, Silvio Berlusconi at Milan. Having a number of wealthy people involved – they will all want to be involved in decision-making.

"I'm not sure what their endgame is but the endgame is irrelevant. The vast majority of fans of Manchester United should be happy with what we are doing and staying at the top of domestic and world football."

He also insisted the debts - £507m in bonds with the Glazers' personal PIK debts around £202m – are serviceable.

He added: "We have an element of the debt that is very easily serviced by the cashflows of Manchester United, we are in a sport that is getting bigger all the time and as one of the leading clubs we should benefit from that growth. We believe we have a much more appropriate and flexible financial structure in place.

"In an ideal world people would like to not have a mortgage on their house but that doesn't mean they don't enjoy the benefits of living in that house and can't afford that house."