The suggestion was that they were only investing for short-term gain but on the contrary, their regime thus far has seen Sir Alex Ferguson backed to the hilt.

An eye-catching summer of spending saw Owen Hargreaves, Nani, Anderson and Carlos Tevez all lured to Manchester.

"Sir Alex Ferguson will be given all the resources to compete at the highest level possible," Joel Glazer told the People.

"When you're around this club, the heritage, the history - when you're walking around Old Trafford, it's an incredible feeling.

"But with it comes a lot of responsibility and we take that very seriously.

"Manchester United are one of the few truly global sports teams in the world.

"We have a global fan base of around 140 million. It's the only club we were ever interested in."