All this talk of philosophy is laughable. It's laudable that at least some Un*ted fans do admit that in the early Ferguson years they spent beyond their means in order to attain the early successes, such as the FA Cup and Cup Winners' Cup victories. It was these successes that created a platform for them to win the first Premiership (as it was then known, remember) title, which triggered the early increases in income and allowed the "Class of '92" a platform of their own to build upon. Knowing that the club had confidence based on the success in the early 90's made it a lot easier for those young players to fit in, in addition to their admitted abilities. However, other than this single group of youth produce, there has been no Un*ted philosophy.
The continued development in income allowed them to improve various elements of the club, such as their Swamp ground, etc. The ever-growing Premiership was a perfect stage to attract casual fans, meaning more TV income, more ticket sales, more shirt sales and more sponsorship deals. Don't kid yourselves, Un*ted were simply in the right place at the right time. Ferguson demanded that they spend big and fast to trigger the catch-up to Liverpool and they built off of that. Whether Rags like to admit this or not, the head figures running the Premiership chose them to be the highlight club of the league to sell the product to the world. Were it not for the Heysel and Hillsborough incidents, you can be certain that Liverpool would have been the club of choice and they would have used the new resources and income to replace the old guard of the 70's and 80's and as such continued their own success.
As for bitterness, I for one can never remember Liverpool being so hated for all those years. Of course people were annoyed by them and probably envious but there was never hatred. Un*ted have been hated for decades because they're a hateful club. Let's not forget how they treated the families of the Munich victims, kicking them out of their rented homes because they refused to provide them with financial support. Let us not forget how they use that air crash for their own financial gain (the 50th Anniversary of the Munich Air Disaster Sponsored by AIG, anyone...). Let us not forget that, despite having the wealth at their disposal, that they inflated the market in the 90's not only with their transfer fees, as they had done since the late 80's, but also their wage packets, feeding Roy Keane's greedy demands with ease.
All this nonsense of philosophy is based on two things, backed up by media support; Ferguson's dictatorial spell in charge of the club and that single youth class of 1992. Media and public manipulation go hand in hand, and people are like sheep. Have Un*ted spent their own money this summer? To an extent yes. I say to an extent, because people make out like Un*ted's income is pure and well earned. I'd hardly say selling your soul to the world for the sake of a few shirt sales is pure, not forgetting the fictitious figure of 659m fans...
Will Un*ted do well this season? Maybe so, but don't dare try and take the moral highground with your fantasy of morality because it is your club that done more to turn football into a financial business than any other entity.