Defeat to Tottenham on New Year's Day has left Manchester United 11 points adrift of Premier League leaders Arsenal and it's now going to be a struggle for the champions to make the top four, let alone defend their crown.
Replacements
Another thing the owners have been guilty of is letting the top class players they had there grow old and diminish without replacing them.
Gary Neville is a classic example, but you could also name Rio Ferdinand, Nemanja Vidic and Ryan Giggs, who are still playing, or Paul Scholes - who've they been replaced by? Not like-for-like, nowhere near.
When the Glazers came in everything was in place and a lot of those players were in their pomp so inevitably that decline wasn't going to start immediately. It was going to take a while before the lack of significant major funding - on a par with the other European giants - was going to take effect.
Fergie, in a way, worked a miracle to win the Premier League with the team he had last season. Everyone said at the time 'this is not a great Manchester United side' - and it wasn't.
But it did have a great Manchester United manager who could cajole them into winning the league, while the other teams around them all had significant issues, from Roberto Mancini having a real struggle at Man City and Chelsea throwing managers away like confetti to an Arsenal side reluctant to spend.
I was naïve in believing anybody could repeat that - and I wasn't alone. It wasn't going to happen without the money being pumped back in.
I don't know when it will end because I'm not a financial expert and I don't know about the Glazers passion for the game. But Liverpool were invincible, big players once and they've been away from the top table for a long time. Without the right kind of backing it might be a while before United are the force they were before.
JEFF'S GEM OF THE WEEK
Spurs and Chelsea are contenders but I'm going with Bury for winning 3-0 away at my lot, Hartlepool. Bury supporters on Twitter have really made me suffer this week!
David Flitcroft who in his first season in charge at Barnsley did brilliantly has gone there and taken them from a position where they were in dire straits to playing the game in the right way, with the ball on the deck and it seems like it's working immediately.
It was a stunning result because we've been in good form. Our manager Colin Cooper says he didn't see it coming and I didn't see it coming either so well done to Bury. It's onwards and upwards for them.
