Sir Alex Ferguson hopeful of David Gil's impact on UEFA's disciplinary system

Sir Alex Ferguson claims Manchester United chief executive David Gill will fix UEFA's disciplinary system if he is elected to the board next year.

Gill will stand for the 16-man board in May, with faith in European football's governing body evidently waning amongst managers, players and supporters alike.

UEFA's latest brush with controversy came this week following the punishment handed down to the Serbian FA for a violent incident during a European Under-21 Championship play-off against England. President Michel Platini is considering appealing against Serbia's £65,000 fine, but Ferguson believes it will take someone like Gill to iron out such problems in the long-term.

"David Gill is very well respected," said Ferguson. "He is a fantastic chief executive. He is straight 100% black and white.

"There is no hidden agenda. Everyone in the game knows that. Hopefully he can make an impact.

"That kind of behaviour [from Serbia] warranted more than £65,000. I am wondering if that was redressing the balance because one or two English players maybe didn't behave correctly and they tried to get the middle ground.

"They are like that, UEFA, they want to try to be seen as fair and they were going to assess England's behaviour too."

Ferguson, meanwhile, believes officials in Great Britain must get back to focusing on dealing with supporters' behaviour at matches. The latest undesirable incident came during last Sunday's Manchester derby when a fan hurled a coin at Rio Ferdinand, opening a cut above the defender's eye.

"It is happening every week at the moment," said Ferguson. "Didn't (Craig) Bellamy get struck by a coin against us with no real damage?

"But it is dangerous and supporters have to realise it. I say that to my own supporters. We don't need that reputation. We are going through a period where everything seems to be falling on top of football clubs.

"Hopefully it is just a period and it will clear itself away and we will get back to what English football has been for the last 20-odd years.

"Racism has been dealt with brilliantly by all the clubs. It is a little period we hope is just a blip and we get back to addressing our country in a proper way."

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Source: ESPN