More cash may need spending to keep Old Trafford star shining
IT WAS meant to be a day to rekindle optimism among Manchester United fans, with confirmation of the British record £59.7m signing of Angel di Maria.
Instead it ended in a new low for Louis van Gaal’s brief reign and raised further questions about how many more exorbitant fees might need to be sanctioned to reverse their decline.
Last night’s defeat was a stark reminder of how far a club that considers itself the world’s biggest has fallen since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson 15 months ago.
In that time they have gone from runaway Premier League winners and Champions League mainstays to a side banished from European football’s top competition and facing an increasingly desperate battle to scramble back in.
Under Van Gaal, they have one point from two Premier League games and are out of one cup.
Influential fans group the Manchester United Supporters’ Trust (MUST) argue that the club is now paying for years of underinvestment during the later Ferguson years.
Some supporters are considering whether to hold an official protest at the club’s owners, the Glazer family, at the money drained out of United via interest payments and a perceived failure to invest in the team, when QPR visit Old Trafford on 14 September.
Since Ferguson’s departure, United have spent around £200m on a host of big-name signings. Whether that is enough to engineer a revival — or placate legions of fans expressing their anger through the #GlazersOut Twitter hashtag — remains to be seen.