Time for a fans' message to the Glazers

Back him or sack him? Supporters can send a memo about Ferguson to Florida

When Manchester United played Benfica at Old Trafford in September, the crowd burst into a spontaneous chant of "Stand up if you love Fergie". There was a conciliatory air to that demonstration of affection, the team and (it was perceived) the manager having been subjected to jeers three days earlier after losing at home to Blackburn Rovers.

It will be instructive to see whether there is any similar rallying call at this afternoon's game against Everton. Those who wish Sir Alex Ferguson to continue as manager beyond the end of the season should ensure a repetition, and hope that reports of it reach Florida, for the Glazer family will be keen to ascertain the level of support the manager enjoys. Hugely unpopular since first taking a significant stake in the club, they need to know which would be better received: back-ing Ferguson or sacking him.

Friday's meeting of the football club board was always likely to veer towards the first option, the board including as it does such supportive long-serving members as Sir Bobby Charlton, former secretary Les Olive and the in-house lawyer, Maurice Watkins. Unfortunately for Ferguson, the power these days rests with the company that is Manchester United Limited; directors - Joel Glazer, Avram Glazer and Bryan Glazer. The previous day's statement from their spokesman, stressing that elimination from the Champions' League made no difference to the family's commitment, was conspicuously short of support for the manager.

An interesting test will come if he presses harder than before for funds to enter the January transfer window. If subsiding into defeat by Benfica on Wednesday proved anything, it was that the squad was insufficiently strengthened last summer and cannot wait until June for further remedial work. The only arrivals in the summer were the Dutch goalkeeper Edwin van der Sar, excellent value at £2m, and the South Korean Park Ji-Sung at double the price; set against outgoing transfers (Phil Neville and Kleberson), that represented a net outlay of barely £500,000 as against Chelsea's £34m, Newcastle's £20m, Everton's £17m and Liverpool's £10m.

Ferguson's previously stated position about new recruits was: "I think we have two areas. January, because we are lacking numbers at the moment, and particularly in a couple of positions we could do with adding to that. But the longer period of the summer is probably more important for us in terms of the player we are interested in ... or players." Wednesday's evidence is that what is lacking is quality, rather than mere numbers, especially in the centre of defence and midfield. The form of Mikaël Silvestre and Rio Ferdinand is alarming, as much for the lack of competition to them as anything else, and there can no longer be any pretence that Alan Smith or Darren Fletcher can somehow compensate for the absence of Roy Keane, whose casting out looks increasingly like a rare failure of Ferguson's man-management.

That said, it was unfortunate that Cristiano Ronaldo should show his immaturity on returning to Lisbon by feeling the need to become the star of the show, over-elaborating, not holding his position and passing up the chance of a goal that would have saved his team by ignoring Paul Scholes in a better position and shooting feebly wide.

Sir Alex has kept his own counsel ahead of today's game, attending a funeral in Scotland while his much criticised assistant, Carlos Queiroz, held court. As was only to be expected, Queiroz defended the players, insisting: "I think Rio is doing very well and Ronaldo has been doing well taking into consideration some of the problems this young player has been facing.

"What you can say is that probably for 15 or 20 minutes during our game against Benfica our performance wasn't good, especially in the first half. In the second we were great and didn't deserve to lose. You can tell us that against Villarreal or Lille at home we lacked one goal to win a game, but we produced some fantastic football and a lot of opportunities against Lille.

"Just think about this: if we had scored one more goal in one of our games or we had conceded one goal less we would have gone through. Life is about lessons, but as professionals with a long time in the game we know how to rebound."

Speculation about the manager's future ("Title or the sack" - Daily Mirror) will only inspire Ferguson to knuckle down with renewed determination, and concentrate his mind on new signings, a midfielder with Premiership experience like Thomas Gravesen, Abdoulaye Faye or Fulham's Papa Bouba Diop being the priority. The problem is that the title is hardly realistic, and superiority over most domestic opposition proves nothing much.

In their most recent games against English sides, by beating Chelsea and then easing past Charlton, West Ham, West Bromwich and Portsmouth, scoring 11 goals in four matches, United have offered a tantalising glimpse - as the beautifully crafted goal against Benfica did - of their capabilities. The run could easily continue against Everton and Wigan in the next four days, but it would still produce an inevitable reaction of "so what?"; Champions' League weeks will be frustrating ones at the Carrington training centre for the rest of the season.

Stand up if you love Fergie? Stewards of clubs playing at home to United should start the chorus. It will be the only time in the game that any of the away fans sit down.

New Blood: Fergie's targets for January

ABDOULAYE FAYE: Recent performances in front of the back four mean Bolton are desperate to keep the man dubbed "Vieira 2". The powerful Senegalese will miss much of January at the African Cup of Nations.

THOMAS GRAVESEN: Danish hard-man accepts Madrid move has not worked, knows the Premiership and would surely prefer United to a return to Everton. Could shore things up until the summer sales.

NEMANJA VIDIC: Inconsistency in defence makes a new centre-half desirable, but Liverpool also want the Serbia & Montenegro inter-national who played against England two years ago.