The end of the Alex Ferguson era at Old Trafford was always going to hit Manchester United hard, but most of the club's fans couldn't of expected how far backwards they had stepped.
Louis Van Gaal was brought in as manager and given the task of changing fortunes at the club. He set his players just one target, to qualify for the Champions League, and they obliged.
Now the former Holland, Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss is looking to stamp his effect at Old Trafford and the way everything is shaping up Manchester United are going to be a force next season.
Van Gaal has moved early in the transfer window, making several key signings that have improved his squad significantly.
Memphis Depay was the first name through the door this summer. The 21-year-old has signed from PSV Eindhoven for around £25million.
[ffc-gal cat="manchester-united" no="5"]
The Dutch winger is an incredible young talent; last season he finished as the top scorer in the Eredivisie and has found himself drawing comparisons to a young Cristiano Ronaldo.
Similar to the Real Madrid striker he has a great technical expertise mixed with pure physical strength, not to mention his set piece expertise. The player is expected to produce big things at United in the future.
Following that deal Van Gaal moved to sign another player he knows well, this time raiding former club Bayern Munich for central midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger.
The German International moves for around £14m and finally gives United the replacement for Paul Scholes they have been searching for, unfortunately for the Red Devils it took them since 2013 to find him.
Schweinsteiger brings a wealth of experience from playing at the top level of football and is the complete midfielder - technically brilliant, comfortable defensively and even better moving forward.
He will thrive at United and will no doubt be running the show from the centre of the park alongside fellow new signing Morgan Schneiderlin, and Spanish midfielder Anders Herrera.
The team is starting to take shape and the club have three issues standing in the way of a title challenge next season, fortunately for the club they are already working towards a solution.
United certainly aren't done in the transfer market this summer with two more big signings needed, and one thing for certain is that it all looks promising for the fans.
Following the departure of Robin Van Persie, the Dutch manager will be searching for a new big name striker to ease Wayne Rooney's workload. United have been linked to some massive names already with the likes of Gonzalo Higuain, Edison Cavani, Thomas Muller all linked with moves to Old Trafford this summer.
Whoever the club sign up front there will be no doubting their ability as United have never been shy when it comes to spending and will be looking to purchase the best option around.
The other area in need is the centre of defence. Currently they have the likes of Phil Jones, Marcos Rojo and Chris Smalling and whilst they are all good defenders, none are world class.
This is an area that Van Gaal is looking to solve and again he is searching amongst the best defenders in the world to improve his squad, names like Nicolas Otamendi, Sergio Ramos and Ezequiel Garay have been looked at.
Any of those trio would certainly improve the United defence and stop the number of goals the club conceded.
That is of course provided the club keep hold of David De Gea, he has been the subject of speculation linking him with a move to Real Madrid for months now.
The simple fact is United can not let him go. He single handedly won United a number of points last season and selling him makes no sense at all.
Especially after the new argument between Victor Valdes and Louis Van Gaal has flared up, it is important that United keep at least one settled goalkeeper.
The signs do look good if you are a Red Devil and it won't be long before they are challenging for the title again.
[ad_pod id='ricco' align='center']