The biggest problem at United at the moment is the Glazer's ownership.
Looking back on the past few transfer windows, you could certainly make an argument that the Glazers aren't afraid to spend big - we broke the British transfer record in 2014 with Di Maria in a massive window, and the world record fee in 2016 for Paul Pogba - but these windows came after the phenomenally miserly windows of Ferguson's final few years, as well as Moyes' 2013 £27m window that oversaw an ageing squad in desperate need of renovation. Valencia replaced Ronaldo in a window with a massive profit, with punts being put in to cheap/youth players like Hernandez, Bebe, Cleverley and Welbeck as opposed to pushing the bids a few million higher to secure the likes of Modric and Robben (no value in the market, eh?). Even RVP, seen as a big investment at the time, was just £15m rising to £24m with add ons - hardly a monster deal.
The signings of Di Maria, Pogba, Bailly, Shaw, Herrera et al. were made in a desperate attempt to get the club back in to an optimum profit range for the Glazers - they continue to leech money out of the club at an extortionate rate, profiting off the immense popularity generated mainly by the phenomenal Sirs Busby and Ferguson. Di Maria and Pogba in particular seemed panic, paper over the cracks buys - Di Maria was desperate for PSG, and Pogba wasn't suited to a stoic Mourinho system. Watching clubs like Liverpool and Spurs, who earn far less money than we do, perform much better than us while playing better football is painful. Even Arsenal seem to be going in the right direction this window, with an intelligent transfer committee (though their ownership is similar to ours).
One of the few positives of the Glazer reign is that the relative paucity of our transfer budget allows players like Rashford, McTominay and Lingard to establish themselves into the team from the academy - having players come through the academy like that means that they're more likely to give 100% for the badge on their chest, and less likely to be attracted to the bright lights of European giants (Pogba is an obvious exception, but was originally signed by us from France at 16). Look at Foden and Sancho at City - phenomenally talented players who would start every game at United, but with you can pay £70m for a better player like *that*, how confident is an academy graduate in securing a first team role? Hopefully under Ole, we'll see the likes of Garner, Gomes, Greenwood, Tuanzebe and Henderson establish themselves as first team regulars over the next few years.
We have other massive problems too - Woodward's mad game as a director of football has been a short-sighted shambles (the Mourinho debacle a particularly painful episode), but the Glazer's leeching of the club, especially given the size of Manchester United, its phenomenal history and the unparalleled dedication from its fans, has been nothing short of criminal.
