Manchester United slumped to a dispiriting 2-0 home defeat to Burnley on Wednesday night. With Liverpool's victory against Wolves on Thursday evening, they sit 33 points behind the runaway league leaders, having played one game more.

Since Ole Gunnar Solskjaer took over the club as permanent manager there has been little improvement overall, with recruitment a major problem. But how did the most successful team in English football get into this mess? And can they get out of it?

We take a look at the biggest issues and some of the potential fixes if the 20-time champions of England are to have any hope of restoring their former glory.

Are the owners, ultimately, to blame?

For many, the Glazer family have long been the root cause of Manchester United’s many ills, from their underinvestment and choice of executives to spearhead a scattergun football operation right down to their tedious micro-management.

It certainly did not require fans leaving Old Trafford en masse against Burnley on Wednesday evening, not long after much of the stadium had risen to its feet to join in the chants of “stand up if you hate Glazers”, to recognise that. Since the Glazers’ hostile takeover in 2005, close to £1 billion has been sucked out of the club in debt repayments, interest bills, management fees, dividends and other costs, money that could have been invested in the squad and infrastructure, not least an increasingly tired looking Old Trafford.