After Old Trafford's controversial owners, the Glazers, revealed yesterday they will pay off £220m of the club's debt, supporters now want the Reds to splash the cash in the transfer market.
Doing so would help wipe out some of the suspicion that surrounds the Americans.
The move by the Florida-based family to pay off the financially crippling payment-in-kind debts (PIKs) stunned their critics.
The £220m PIK notes were taken out in 2005 secured against the club's assets and then re-financed a year later.
Interest payments on them meant a staggering and debilitating £60m a year went out of the club. That huge interest
payment was one of the biggest concerns for irate supporters.
But the most contentious part of the once £700m-plus debt has now been paid off and in a statement announcing their first quarterly figures yesterday, United made it clear that none of the cash will come out of the Old Trafford coffers.
It said: The board can confirm that there has been no dividend of club cash.
The figures also revealed a rise in total turnover from £57.7m to £63.3m compared to the same three months last year, the main reason being an increase in commercial revenue to £24.2m, up over 25%.
The cancelling out of the PIKs will be financed by the Glazers and will be paid off on Monday, reducing the club's debt to £509.4m.
Most significantly the removal of the high-interest PIK debts endorses the Glazers', United chief executive David Gill and Sir Alex Ferguson's consistent mantra that transfer funds are available and that they are able to compete with big- spending rivals City and Chelsea.
Due to relatively modest outlays last summer on Javier Hernandez, Chris Smalling and Bebe many United supporters remained wary of whether the Reds could still pack a punch in the transfer market.
They also feared the £80m world record fee the Reds banked in the summer of 2009 for Cristiano Ronaldo would be used to pay off the PIKs.
That concern has now been alleviated and the financial figures announced reveal a pot of £151.7m in United's bank ready to be spent.
The removal of the divisive PIKs is clearly a positive sign for those who've campaigned against the Glazers.
IMUSA spokesman and presenter of BBC Radio Manchester's United programme Red Wednesday' Liam Bradford said: On the face of it, it can only be good news. We have to be fairly cheerful about it. The £220m PIK payment has been the nasty debt fans have been worried about more than anything else.
The interest rates have been so huge and going up year on year that we've been concerned. To get rid of this toxic debt must be good news.
Obviously there still remains concern about how the Glazers are actually paying this huge debt off. Will they sell a stake in Red Football? Will they re-finance and how would that impact on the club?
The least likely event is that they sell to somebody else. That all remains to be seen.
Does this put the Glazers in a better light? Most Manchester United fans would still tell you that it has gone too far and they'd be happy still to get rid of them.
The second best solution would be evidence that transfer funds really are readily available.
I don't think we will see evidence of that until next summer. Historically Fergie doesn't spend much in mid-season and that will probably remain so.
The Reds boss keeps talking about there being no value in the market at the moment and I think it would be very, very wrong to question him. So many times we've done that and been proved wrong.
It has to be a case of In Fergie We Trust' but if he were to spend big then it would ease the concerns that are still around.
Supporters group MUST, who are behind the anti-Glazer Green and Gold campaign, believe the Americans' latest move is a victory for the fans but are keen to know where the US owners have got the money from to pay off the PIKs and what the plans are for the future.
Now is the time for the Glazers to finally come clean and tell the truth about what is going on at United and what their plans are. What have they got to hide? No more secrecy. No more spin. Just tell the fans the truth, said MUST in a statement.
The Glazers do not have to reveal how they have raised the money. They are obliged to publish quarterly results for the operating company Red Football, but the PIKs were loaded on to their parent company Red Football Joint Venture, which is subject to no such obligations.
True to form the owners remained tight-lipped on where the money would be found to pay off the PIKs. But while fans will continue to come up against a wall of silence, United's future activity in the transfer market will be monitored closely as an indicator.
To that end supporters, despite putting their faith in United boss Fergie and his accent on youth, still want to see some of the bigger world names signing up for the Reds. Inter Milan's Sneijder remains the most popular of potential imports.
The Reds are in need of a midfield inspiration with Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs both in the twilight of their careers.
The 26-year-old Dutch international was a sensation at the World Cup in South Africa and provided Holland with an influential playmaker in the engine room with goals to boot.
Inter benefited from his impact last term when the Italians won Serie A and the Champions League.
United also need a goalscorer up front to bridge the gap between the injury prone Michael Owen and raw potential of Kiko Macheda to ease the burden on Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov.
One time target Karim Benzema, who chose Real Madrid ahead of Old Trafford in 2009, would still be a powerful acquisition.
United's goalkeeper situation looks certain to need attention next summer.
Mystery still surrounds whether Edwin Van der Sar has made up his mind to retire or not. Deputy number one Tomasz Kuszczak will assess his situation at the end of the season but could want regular football elsewhere. It could leave United with just rookie Ben Amos on their books.
The Reds have a list of keepers they have been monitoring and are now being linked with Juventus's 32-year-old Gianluigi Buffon who moved to the Italian giants for a world record transfer fee of £32m in 2001.
Last summer, Fergie said there was only one major signing he felt would improve the Reds.
The player was understood to be Spanish World Cup winning striker David Villa, who moved from Valencia to Barcelona for £35m.
If Fergie pulls out a big-name rabbit out of the hat in January or next summer, supporters might finally reluctantly
accept the Glazers do have the Reds' on-field success at the forefront of their plans.
Source: Manchester Evening News
Source: M.E.N.