Manchester Utd Terrace Talk: deadwood excised, decent signings, purposeful mood

"Here we are again, our bright shiny faces upturned hopefully to face another new season’s dawn. Tell your wife summer is officially dead to you, and let’s get our boots on.

For the best part of two decades under Fergie, the questions we would ask ourselves every August were so simple in their self-confidence. Would we win the League ("probably"), or narrowly miss out; would we reach the endgame in the European Cup ("possibly"); and how many other Finals would we reach  en passant ("almost enough").

Now, for the third season in a row, our sights have been somewhat recalibrated, after a post-Fergie era riddled by doubt and outright traumas. Not that we aren’t feeling generally upbeat, I hasten to add. A slew of seemingly decent signings, with a hefty wedge spent, and a pile of deadwood neatly excised, have all combined to put us in a purposeful mood.