“You can stick your new stadium up your a*se.”

Of the many songs of defiance voiced by the Stretford End yesterday this was another strong railing against the club’s priorities. As one Manchester United season-ticket holder messaged me last night, “We had an email from the club this week asking us for our thoughts on the new stadium and I bet they get some interesting replies. Surely the team is the first priority.” Spot on.

The club will point to differing budgets, stadium and squad, but it is reflective of owners’ priorities. The gleaming new stadium is impressive, will accommodate more fans and generate more money but it is not the priority right now, and the consultation is particularly poorly timed. Why celebrate proposals for the construction of a new Theatre of Dreams, an arena not opening until 2030/31, when the current stage lacks performers?

United’s squad is one of the poorest in the club’s history in strength of match-winning quality and character. Where are the fighters, the Crerands and Robsons, Keanes and Rooneys? The captain Bruno Fernandes criticised Michael Carrick’s tactics. He’s the captain, supposedly the leader of a dressing-room of a club called and celebrated as Manchester United. Together. United.

Failing in loyalty to the shirt, too few of the current group are playing for Carrick, whose days looked numbered in the wake of surrenders to Como and Bournemouth. The priority for the owners should have been ensuring that Carrick had the right players to call upon: right in their positional fit, attitude and ability. The board’s priorities were wrong: they focused on midfield, not defence. They focused on mid-level players like Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans for reasonable fees, low-hanging fruit, not reaching up for the real talent. In years gone by, when United were well run, their priority would have been in throwing resources at bringing in a commanding midfielder in Elliot Anderson from Nottingham Forest as they once did with Keane.

United’s priority should be to think big again, and invest big. This is Manchester United, the most famous club in the world along with Real Madrid. As the fans’ flag reads, they’re hated, adored, but never ignored. Big club, big news, but big problems.

The saddest part of the shambles is that those who care most about United, Carrick and the fans, are the ones suffering most, the ones most let down by the club and the players. After chanting against co-owners Sir Jim Ratcliffe and the Glazer family, the Stretford End sang in praise of Carrick. The midfielder who won five titles and a Champions League at the club first felt embedded in the hearts as well as minds of United fans on February 23, 2013 at Loftus Road. The away fans sang about Carrick, for almost an hour, during the second half and when filing out. “It’s Carrick, you know; it’s hard to believe it’s not Scholes”. It was the ultimate compliment, comparing Carrick to a beloved, homegrown legend in Paul Scholes. Carrick later described the moment as emotional and unforgettable, hearing that unconditional acceptance.

He heard it again yesterday, and looked similarly emotional at this show of support in his darkest moment. United fans were making a point. Carrick was not to blame. Greater culpability could be laid at the boardroom door. Ratcliffe overseeing such wretched recruitment. The Glazers appearing to focus on what they can take out of United not what they could put. It’s also the players.

In one of the most extraordinary moments in United’s history, the Stretford End serenaded Carrick en route to the tunnel after the final whistle sounded like the death knell on his managerial tenure. Then, when he disappeared from view, they tore into the players.

That felt a hugely significant moment and one that should force some United players, such as Fernandes, to look in the mirror. United fans are famously supportive of players, so their anger must have sprung up from the deepest source, from deep within.

Social media immediately sluiced with observers, many from overseas, lecturing United’s match-going fans on the need to take more direction against the owners, such as boycotting games. Where to start with such naive admonishing? Giving up their tickets – or missing a few games, which allows the club to take the ticket – would simply profit the Glazers even more. More tourists spending inflated sums on tickets, and spending substantial sums on merchandising in the megastore, just means more money for the Glazers.

Giving up their tickets, even scanning in but not taking up the seat, is anathema anyway to fans. Why should they be told to stage a walk-out in protest at the Glazers when all they want to do is watch their team and share moments and memories with friends forged in the furnace of match-day? They work hard to earn the money to support their team. Why on earth should they give that up?

Supporting a team is largely an unconditional relationship. Fans can’t change allegiance. It’s not like a relationship with a car manufacturer or supermarket chain, a connection you can break if you feel they’re letting you down on price, quality, service, level of satisfaction, etc. It’s an emotional connection, and United fans deserve admiration for their loyalty despite the owners and the players. Carrick will probably go, leaving the fans to face yet another grim cycle of life under owners and players whose priorities simply aren’t right for a club of Manchester United’s stature.