Manchester United midfielder Donny van de Beek Photo: VCG

For any Manchester United fans it was a bad start to the English Premier League season, the worst in fact for 25 years.

The opening day of the 1995-96 season saw the Red Devils travel to Villa Park to face Aston Vila and ending up losing 3-1.

That summer, like this one, the club was under great scrutiny for its lack of activity in the transfer market. If anything it was worse then or at least it would have been if Twitter was around back then.

"Announce XXXXX," would have been the calls of the day, just as they are of "Announce Sancho" now, or of "Announce any central defender to replace Lindelof" after Saturday's abject home defeat to Crystal Palace.

United made no signings that summer, with the August sun shining down, the visitors' day was as grey as their soon-to-be-infamous Umbro kit.

Worse still they had sold star players Paul Ince, Mark Hughes and Andrei Kanchelskis - each of them seemingly in their prime.

Villa won thanks to goals from Ian Taylor, Mark Draper and a Dwight Yorke penalty - all three goals coming between the 14th and 36th minutes. Consolation for a United side that was also missing Steve Bruce, Eric Cantona, Andy Cole and Ryan Giggs came in the form of a David Beckham goal with eight minutes to go.

That day will be remembered for the BBC pundit (and former Liverpool central defender) Alan Hansen stating that "you can't win anything with kids" ­- Ferguson started Gary and Phil Neville, Nicky Butt and Paul Scholes with Beckham on at halftime.

Ferguson would be proven right over his fellow Scot the following May when United were crowned Premier League champions and the so called Class of '92, as that group of players who came through the academy came to be known would go on to glittering careers.

It's interesting that some of the most vocal critics of the club's performance now are among those players. Gary Neville, who was co-commentating on Sky Sports for United's opening-day defeat, raised the specter of transfers when CEO Ed Woodward came on screen.

"The usual thing for Manchester United off the back of something like this is to react, to go and buy a player or two this week to quell the Twitter and social media voice which will absolutely simmer and boil," the former fullback fumed. "It's been simmering all week, I think. Particularly with Liverpool doing business today, Chelsea in the last few weeks, Bale is going to Tottenham.

"Why are Manchester United not signing the players they need to bolster this squad?"

After Lindelof and his partner in central defense Harry Maguire, the world's most expensive defender, no less, were found wanting against Palace, Neville called for a new center back "that can run, can defend one-on-one." The word since has been that United's transfer policy has not changed.

It was a similar story last summer when Maguire arrived late in the summer window, after Leicester City refused to budge on their valuation. Bruno Fernandes was a long-term target and pursued over the summer but only arrived in the winter window ­- and only at the end of it.

 There has been a pattern over the summers since Ferguson left David Moyes as his "chosen one" and the Glazers allowed David Gill to leave to be replaced by Woodward. That summer United had Crystal Palace's Wilfried Zaha already signed and a deal agreed with Barcelona's Thiago Alcantara - Zaha was allowed to leave United and Thiago never came, instead going to Bayern Munich. Zaha masterminded Palace's three points on Saturday while Thiago was sublime in his debut for Liverpool at Chelsea on Sunday.

Neville thinks United's reputation may explain their reluctance. "Not feeling like they want to get done in the market, because of what has happened in the last eight years, I think the people there [at United] have lost their confidence and they've tried to now go the other way in terms of, 'we can't overpay,'" the pundit said on The Gary Neville podcast.

"You see Liverpool getting a player for 40 million pounds, for 25 million pounds. [Timo] Werner [at Chelsea] obviously is quite cheap compared to some of the prices you see in the market. Manchester United always seem to have to pay top dollar. I don't think the people at the club will like that. They'll feel as though they are easy pickings and there is a suggestion of that.

"The problem is they have to find a way to get deals done, and they can't get deals done efficiently. It is negligence to not get the squad in place. They have had six months to get the squad in place since lockdown. So much time to be able to deliberate, Zoom call, scout and connect with agents.

"There is no excuse for not getting your deals done sort of towards the start of the season. They needed four or five players. I know Liverpool have only got theirs done in the last couple of days, but there is a feeling that Liverpool are in control.

"It's easier when they are champions but Manchester United have the money. If they can spend 90 to 100 million on [Jadon] Sancho, they've got the money to do the deals. They haven't got the quality and the experience of football people with the right experience in the club. It looks like a complex, convoluted structure. I'm not sure where the decisions lie."

No one does but it certainly is not with the club's non-existent Director of Football, a role that has still not been created.

"We can talk about new players coming in, but there's enough quality on that pitch to beat Crystal Palace," Ryan Giggs told Premier League Productions after the defeat. 

"The fans won't be happy now because even before, if they'd got a positive result, they still want to see new faces through the door and also a few going out as well. So there's a lot to think of for Ole and the board."