David Gill inherited the chief executive role at Old Trafford just at a time when Manchester United’s Premier League-era dominance of English football appeared to be coming under serious threat.

The very fact that Gill’s predecessor Peter Kenyon had departed to Chelsea said everything about the aggressive new challenge facing United, with Roman Abramovich’s millions pouring into Stamford Bridge.

But Gill, who two years following his initial opponent would become chief executive of United’s plc, would go on to make his own mark on the club and preside over its continuing success.

While Chelsea lurched from one managerial crisis to another, and a new potent threat emerged in the form of United’s cross-city rivals, Gill presided over a period which proved – on the pitch at least – to be very much business as usual.

The four Premier League titles and Champions League triumph which arrived at Old Trafford under Gill’s tenure might ordinarily have seen him held up alongside Sir Alex Ferguson as an architect of another golden era.

But Gill’s relationship with United fans was irretrievably strained by his role in bringing the widely unpopular Glazer family to the club shortly after replacing Kenyon in 2003.

Gill’s support for the move, which was seen as a U-turn after his initial reticence to court their interest, was never forgiven by some fans, who launched a vociferous campaign against the new owners.

Nevertheless, the strength of Gill’s relationship with Ferguson proved arguably more crucial than the Glazers’ ownership in maintaining United’s position at the top of the English game in the face of evolving challenges.

With Ferguson’s reign surely set to end at some point during the governorship of Gill’s successor, Ed Woodward, there is a very real possibility that the timing of his departure – described as “strange” by some – is in fact another example of his undoubted business acumen.