Manchester United have blueprint for Premier League title challenge

Man Utd held their latest quarterly conference call with investors last week and one detail in it showed why it's only a matter of time before the club are winning titles again.

When the 2019/20 Premier League season finally ends it will bring up an unwanted milestone for Manchester United, extending their wait for a championship crown to seven years.

Only once since the end of the Second World War have they gone longer without winning the top prize domestically. That was, of course, the 26-year wait Sir Alex Ferguson ended in May 1993, but the idea of United having to wait anywhere near as long as that again, or even Liverpool's 30-year hiatus without the title, is as close to impossible as you can get in football.

It was always only going to be a matter of time before United got it right and returned to the role of regular title challengers. There have been glimpses recently under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer that the club might have relocated the right track and their progress could speed up over the next 12 months.

While the quarterly conference call United held with investors on Thursday focused on the impact COVID-19 has had on football and finances, with United losing £23million up to March 31 as a result of the coronavirus pandemic forcing the cancellation of three matches, the closure of Old Trafford to tours, the museum, the club shop and an expected rebate to broadcasters, it also highlighted the financial strength of the club.

This was a weapon United didn't have - or not as exclusively - between 1967 and 1993 and it wasn't available to Liverpool for much of their three decades in the doldrums either. But the modern Manchester United are a financial giant, despite the debt, and a huge commercial success story. As Ed Woodward has explained previously, they can bring in money even when the product on the pitch isn't up to scratch.

In detailing their financial results for January, February and March, United revealed they still had £90m in the bank as well as easy access to £150m in credit. That's £240m still available to United as of March 31. It helps explains why their response to the pandemic has been first-rate.

One part of the financial report that also attracted attention was the rise in net debt. This was partly explained by the fact United paid the £80m fee to Leicester City for Harry Maguire in one go. That is increasingly rare with modern-day transfers and only serves to highlight United's strength.

Add in that £240m available to them and it's easy to see why Solskjaer was bullish back in March about the club being able to recruit as they'd hoped for this summer. Woodward has since tempered those claims a little, but few clubs in Europe are as well-placed as United to continue spending substantial sums.

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While the rest of Europe's top clubs ask players to take pay cuts or deferrals and consider scaling back their own investment plans, United have continued to pay all staff in full and still plan to be active in the next transfer window.

When you generate the kind of revenues United do in the modern game, it's only a matter of time until somebody gets it right. The club haven't won the title since 2013 because of poor decision making, in the boardroom when it comes to the choice of managers and in terms of recruitment on the pitch.

Sooner or later that was going to be corrected. Now United look to be a more coherent club, making sensible decisions with an eye on the long-term. When you can do that as one of the most powerful clubs in the game, it's only a matter of time until the trophies follow.