Manchester United yesterday attempted to tone down the rancour surrounding their summer transfer business, when the club effectively only signed midfielder Marouane Fellaini from Everton on the final day of the window.
The Belgian moved in a £27.5m deal but further targets - such as Leighton Baines, Sami Khedira and Fabio Coentrao - did not follow him to Old Trafford.
That perceived inability to notably strengthen the United squad has led some supporters to condemn the efforts of manager David Moyes and, particularly, Ed Woodward, the club's executive vice-chairman, in trying to attract new players. Indeed, a group of fans were even irked enough to write to the Old Trafford board and demand answers, with calls of protest also heard during their side's 4-2 win over Bayer Leverkusen in the opening Champions League on Tuesday.
Such letters were given a collective response in a statement from United yesterday, written by Phil Townsend, director of communications. In it, he tactfully states Sir Alex Ferguson - that most successful of United managers - always spoke highly of the backing he received from the club, but more intriguingly insisted that the club had achieved what it set out to in the window.
"The club has always backed the manager in the transfer market, as Sir Alex [Ferguson] has said on many occasions, and it will continue to do so," wrote Townsend. "The club had two main priorities for the transfer window. The first was to keep Wayne Rooney. That aim was fulfilled. The second priority was to add a midfield player, and the capture of Fellaini has met that need. Add to that the fact Wilfried Zaha is a new signing and that the manager has added the highly-rated young player Adnan Januzaj to the squad and the team does have a different feel to it."
Should this squad succeed in finishing among the top three places in the Barclays Premier League and reach the quarter-finals in the Champions League this season then the club expect revenue to rise as high as £430m next year. The Old Trafford club posted a 13.4% rise in turnover to £363.2m for the year ending June 30, 2013 and the commercial operation is evidently the main area of growth. There were less impressive figures, with regards the club's debt, though, since that now stands at £389.2m.
At least the debt which some had considered Rooney to owe to fans has been paid back, almost in full. The striker appeared to go in the huff with the club over the summer as Chelsea tried to prise him to London, but he has reacted by scoring his 200th goal for the club on Tuesday.
"It was as good as I've seen him for a while," said Michael Carrick, the United midfielder. "He looked sharp and he looked hungry. It's great to have him in that kind of form."
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