Former Manchester United winger Ian Storey-Moore has questioned supporters over the ongoing anti-Glazer family protests. Sir Jim Ratcliffe is close to a £1.4 billion deal for a 25% stake, extending the hated American owners’ 18-year reign.

Since the Glazers’ contentious £790 million takeover in 2005, United fans have been staunchly hostile to their rule.

According to the club’s most recent financial figures, the club’s debt had surpassed £1.005 billion due to a mix of gross debt, bank borrowings, and outstanding transfer payments.

The Glazers have enraged fans by extracting income from United and investing very little in the club, rendering Old Trafford and the club’s Carrington training facility obsolete in comparison to Europe’s other giants.

However, Storey-Moore argues that supporters cannot be dissatisfied with the Glazers’ support for Ten Hag, regardless of whether the money came from their own coffers or not.

“The Glazers don’t seem very well-liked at all, but in mitigation to them, they have put an awful lot of money into the club in terms of buying players,” Storey-Moore said in an email.

“And I don’t think it’s particularly their fault that some of the players they’ve brought in haven’t performed well, do you?” They have provided the funds. So it’s very intriguing.

“We’ll have to wait and see if Sir Jim Ratcliffe wants to change things up a bit, but he doesn’t seem to like the figures in there right now.”

“From the outside, they appear to have spent a lot of money to get players. This is not their fault. I don’t believe they would have recognized who the players were, therefore you can’t blame them for the players’ indifference.”

When contemplating United’s troubles, Storey-Moore focused on Ten Hag rather than the Glazers.

In his 18 months as United manager, the Dutchman has spent over £400 million, much of it on players Storey-Moore, who worked as a top scout under Martin O’Neill at Aston Villa, believes aren’t good enough.

“To be honest, I don’t think the recruitment has been particularly successful.” Being a chief scout and being active in player recruitment is not simple, as I know from personal experience.

“Every manager, coach, scout, and recruiter makes mistakes.” But I believe he’s made way too many recently. I haven’t been very impressed with recruitment lately.

“I believe that is the most serious issue. In general, I believe the collapse has been caused by poor recruitment. Everyone makes mistakes, but I don’t think it’s been very good.”