Coolmore grief last year
"They had every right to raise the questions last season. My issue was that they did it through the media rather than the proper channels. But they raised sensible points which we have dealt with and will deal with."
Prospect of any takeover
"At the end of the day, it's difficult - unless they choose to tell you of their intentions, you can't demand it.
"Cubic have said they view this as an investment. We'll meet with them in September or October. If they say things to us then we have an obligation to report it to all shareholders.
"The fact of the matter is they do not divulge their intentions until they are ready to do something. Our discussions with them are amicable. Clearly the issues they raised were ones they had every right to - they own nearly 30 per cent of the company. My issue [with them] was making it public and doing it through the media rather than the normal channels. Now the issue has been dealt with and I hope that it is closed - unless there's another horse out there! Their stake is worth more than £200m so I don't think they are going to do anything to destabilise the company.''
Rooney situation
"We would react to the situation as it unfolded. Chelsea can't get all the players. Real Madrid can't get all the players. We have to go for the players who want to come to United. That was the case with Alan Smith. But I understand what the fans say. I still think we can compete aggressively in the transfer market for the right players. But I think most sensible fans will clearly understand that we cannot compete with Chelsea. They spend like no others can."
Transfers, competing with Chelsea
"We always have an assessment of value. We were interested in Robben but Chelsea paid far in excess of what we had offered. What we have got to remember is that Chelsea can't get all the players and that we need to go for players - like Alan Smith - who actually want to come to United.
"I still think we can compete aggressively in the transfer market for the right players. But most sensible fans will clearly understand that we cannot compete with Chelsea. They have written off a lot of what they spent last year and then spent about £90m this summer. I mean, no other club can do that.
"We are still one of the biggest clubs in terms of competing for trophies, we pay very good wages, we play in front of full houses - and Mourinho has said he only wants 24 in the squad. Once he has got that, the rest are up for grabs.''
Transfer transparency
"If there's anything we are embarrassed by, we shouldn't be doing it."
Fartin Edwards
"Martin Edwards was criticised but quite rightly in my opinion he ran the club on the basis that we need to be around for many years to come. So we have a target that no more than 50 per cent of the turnover should go on wages.
"What we have got to do now, and it will take time, is to move players to a more incentive-based structure. It would involve personal but perhaps also team incentives. Gearing our wages as to whether we are in the group stages of the Champions' League or not is how I want to move it forward and we have been successful with some of our recent contracts in that regard.
"In a tighter financial environment, with television revenue not going up at the moment, that is the future. When you look at some of the players we have been trying to move on, the critical issue has been wages. It is difficult when a player becomes surplus to requirements to move him on."