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The Manchester United Supporters Trust has accused the Glazer family of siphoning £1bn from the club's finances over the last 10 years.

United have averaged a trophy each year during the Glazers' reign, however MUST believes the American family's leveraged takeover a decade ago scuppered United's chances of surpassing Liverpool's five European Cups.

Following a period of parsimonious spending, United embarked on an unprecedented splurge last summer ahead of a Premier League title tilt next season, yet MUSt argue the club was deprived of funds.

"They could not have failed this key test any more comprehensively," MUST chief executive Duncan Drasdo said of the Glazers' ownership.

"Not investing a single penny might be considered an ‘ownership crime’ by fans at most clubs but far worse than that they've actually extracted colossal sums from Manchester United.

"When all interest and charges on their leveraged buyout is added up, plus money they've paid themselves, plus related debt still on the club, they've taken more than £1 BILLION and it’s still rising."

United won the Champions League in 2008 but were beaten by Pep Guardiola's brilliant Barcelona side in the 2009 and 2011 finals.

Cristiano Ronaldo and Carlos Tevez left following the 2009 Rome final and United fielded a weaker side for the Wembley showpiece two years later.

"When the Glazers took over in 2005 we already had an exciting young squad including Cristiano Ronaldo and Wayne Rooney," Drasdo added.

"With continued investment that squad should have gone on to dominate Europe for years but the Glazer era squandered that golden chance and although still successful on the pitch it has to go down, in Europe in particular, as a decade of wasted opportunity.

"United should have knocked Liverpool off their European perch too by surpassing their 5 European Cups. It seems very likely we would have done had it not been for financial austerity imposed by the Glazers’ ownership."

See a gallery of the Glazer era at United below