There will be much gnashing of teeth among Manchester United supporters at the revelation this morning that the club paid £42 million in the past financial year in interest on the debts put upon it by the Glazer family. David Gill, the chief executive, knows it, just as he knows that record profits and turnover will not begin to endear the Glazers to many of the club’s fans, who continue to hold the Americans in something beneath contempt.

Gill, though, feels that it is time the anti-Glazer factions woke up and smelt the coffee. Yes, the £42 million interest charges could be equated to five Nemanja Vidics or 3½ Cristiano Ronaldos, not to mention free season tickets around most of Old Trafford, but in reality it cannot. Gill has more than a vested interest, as he is in the employ of the Americans, but having initially objected to their takeover in 2005, he feels that the club are in safe hands and rude health, with their pre-tax profits of £59.6 million for the past financial year the kind of figures that will lessen some of Arsenal’s smugness while turning their rivals at Chelsea and Liverpool green with envy.

“I don’t want to comment on other clubs,” Gill said yesterday. “But what I will say is that the Glazers have been true to their word. They haven’t sought credit or publicity. They haven’t interfered on any level. They have let the manager get on with it. They have kept a low profile, but they have been very supportive in terms of the manager signing players and in terms of investment.

“There will always be people who won’t accept them, even if we were to win three European Cups on the bounce. But the majority of our 139 million core fans worldwide want to see a team playing exciting, winning football in a safe, clean stadium. I think we have that.”

Did he say 139 million core fans? Yes, almost double the figure outlined in the Glazers’ business plan 18 months ago. What is more, a study today will claim that United have 333 million “followers” – more than 5 per cent of the world’s population.

Some will snort at the figures – and at the notion that such a tiny number of the fan base has visited Old Trafford – but no club in the world, except perhaps Real Madrid, are better at turning followers into fans and fans into customers. Say what you like about the Glazers – and most on the Stretford End have plenty to say – but they, too, are proving adept in this regard, having taken control of the commercial arm in recent months.

Gill cites the “explosion” of United’s fan base in South Korea, which he attributes to the signing Park Ji Sung, a sponsorship deal with a Seoul tyre company, a visit on their preseason tour to Asia last July and enthusiasm for a team with the talents of Wayne Rooney, Ronaldo and others.

The club’s desire to milk this market is another source of angst among their traditional fan base, but as a United official put it, “the game has changed. With globalisation and with new technology, it is an incredible market we’re competing in now. We aim to be market leaders and we feel that we are. It’s about having this extraordinarily successful business that underpins the allure of exciting attacking football. The football feeds the business and the business feeds the football.”

None of this sits easily with some United supporters, who expect to be hit with another increase in season--ticket prices next season. Gill was noncommittal on that issue yesterday, but he did indicate that there would be a “slight tweak” of the club’s controversial “automatic cup scheme”, which compels season ticket-holders to pay for entry to cup matches whether or not they attend. He also expressed sympathy for fans at the decrease in frequency of the traditional Saturday 3pm kick-off, which has applied to only four of their 21 Barclays Premier League matches this season but added that, in terms of the money that television pumps into football, “we can’t have our cake and eat it”.

So where, Gill is asked, will United and football be in ten years? Will the club have begun to pay off their debt? “Good question. There is long-term debt in place, although there are repayment elements with that. There is also growth not just through the sport, with the new TV deals, etc, but through our commercial activity.”

And with a 75-year-old Sir Alex Ferguson still at the helm, no doubt.