“We are looking at players all the time, the money from Ronaldo is sitting there in the bank account, we have been clear on that.”

Twenty-four hours later, one injury-prone striker is injured.

With Danny Welbeck on loan at Preston and unable to cut short his season-long spell at Deepdale, Sir Alex Ferguson has just Wayne Rooney and Dimitar Berbatov available as senior strikers.

And with Rooney doubtful for tomorrow’s trip to Wolves with a knee injury and Berbatov struggling with a long-term knee problem, the negative Owen bulletin could not have come at a worse time for Manchester United.

So did Alex Ferguson simply forget to buy enough striking cover for the season?  Or is this money in the bank, as many suspect, a fiction to mollify the agitating fans?

This is Dave Gill’s explanation:

He’s a Scot, he wants value for money.

Just as well they didn’t hire an Irish manager or he no doubt would have lost the money to a conniving leprechaun.