Manchester United's season had been anything but calm.
The Glazer family, American investors intent on taking control of the club, had steadily increased their shareholding and had even approached Ferguson in advance, hoping that the legendary manager would support the takeover.
Most members of the Manchester United board were unlikely to reject a sufficiently attractive offer. They were businessmen, after all. From the moment investors first began treating Manchester United as a valuable commercial asset, and especially since Martin Edwards had repeatedly explored the possibility of selling the club, supporters had understood that a takeover by outside capital was probably only a matter of time.
To many of the club's traditional supporters, the threat had hung over Manchester United for years.
When John Magnier and his associates began preparing to sell their shares, those supporters knew the moment they had feared was approaching quickly.
Their protests could delay the process politically and make it deeply uncomfortable for everyone involved, but they could not determine the final outcome. Ultimately, the decisive numbers were the ones appearing in the shareholders' bank accounts.
The Glazers had already helped finance the arrivals of Rooney, Robinho, Diego and Quaresma. All four had contributed to varying degrees. Even Quaresma, whom Ethan remembered as a player who had struggled badly in his previous life, had improved considerably under Ferguson and was gradually adapting to the Premier League.
The problem was not simply whether the Glazers were willing to spend money.
It was how they intended to finance the takeover.
Most of their commitments, including the money made available for transfers, were being funded through borrowing against Manchester United's future revenues.
If the takeover were completed on those terms, one of the most profitable football clubs in the world could become one of its most heavily indebted almost overnight.
The debt would sit on the club.
So would the interest.
That was why so many supporters were furious.
Murdoch's failed attempt to acquire Manchester United years earlier had provided plenty of lessons, and the Glazers appeared determined not to repeat his mistakes. Their approach had been carefully prepared from the beginning.
During Manchester United's fourteenth Premier League match of the season, Old Trafford was covered in protest banners.
Supporters called for organised resistance to the takeover. Some urged fan groups to unite, create a supporters' trust and purchase as many shares as they could. Malcolm Glazer's appearance in the directors' box was greeted with sustained jeering.
The Stretford End had always housed some of Manchester United's most devoted supporters.
The club's enormous megastore sat behind it, and the stand itself had long been regarded as Old Trafford's unofficial twelfth man.
Yet even there, banners appeared demanding that the Glazers leave the club alone.
The anger was genuine.
Unfortunately for the supporters, the numbers were moving in only one direction.
Magnier and his allies had sold. Harry Dobson followed them.
The Glazer family now controlled around 62 per cent of Manchester United.
Once their holding crossed the critical threshold required under the takeover structure, the remaining shareholders would have little room to resist.
For the club's small shareholders, that was the bitterest part.
Many were not investors in any meaningful sense. They were Manchester United supporters who happened to own a tiny piece of the club they loved.
Selling might earn them some money.
But that was never why they had bought the shares.
Owning even the smallest stake gave them the feeling that they were part of Manchester United in a way that went beyond simply buying a ticket.
Several supporter representatives Ethan knew personally approached him, hoping he might somehow intervene.
There was very little he could do.
Football ownership regulations prevented one individual or company from controlling two clubs competing in the same domestic league. Ethan already owned New Manchester United. Attempting to acquire Manchester United himself was therefore impossible without creating a direct conflict that would force one of the clubs out of the competition.
He could not stop the takeover financially.
What he could do was speak publicly.
And he did.
In interviews with television networks, newspapers and magazines, Ethan repeatedly criticised the structure of the proposed deal.
"This kind of leveraged acquisition is common in American finance," he said. "You create an acquisition vehicle, build a financing package, persuade the banks that the target company's future cash flow can service the debt, and then use borrowed money to complete the purchase."
He paused.
"So the obvious question is this: how much of their own money are the Glazers actually putting into Manchester United?"
His expression hardened.
"I would expect the majority of the purchase price to be financed through borrowing. Once the takeover is completed, part of Manchester United's operating income, ticket revenue and commercial revenue will have to be used to service that debt and the interest attached to it."
"That burden doesn't disappear after one season. It could remain for years."
Ethan acknowledged that the Glazers might genuinely intend to own the club for the long term.
"But that doesn't change the financial reality," he said. "Manchester United may still win trophies. They may still have good seasons. But if a large share of the club's income is being used to service acquisition debt, they will no longer have the same freedom to spend £20 million or £30 million on players whenever Ferguson decides he needs one."
"Signings like Rio Ferdinand, Wayne Rooney, Ruud van Nistelrooy or Juan Sebastián Verón become much harder to make."
Ethan's comments were repeated throughout the British media.
His reputation in both football and business meant people took them seriously.
Van Nistelrooy had been one of Manchester United's great transfer successes. Verón, by contrast, was often cited as proof that expensive transfers could fail.
But that distinction was beside Ethan's point.
Manchester United had once been financially strong enough to make both deals. Even after Verón failed to justify his transfer fee, the mistake did not threaten the club's stability.
That was what healthy finances gave a club.
Ethan's argument was simple.
Under heavy acquisition debt, Manchester United could lose that freedom.
Unless the Glazers repaid the debt rapidly, or another wealthy owner eventually bought the club outright, major transfers would have to be judged against liabilities that had never existed before.
The protests intensified.
For Manchester United's fifteenth league match, away to West Bromwich Albion, a large number of supporters refused to travel.
Instead, they gathered outside Old Trafford and marched against the takeover, echoing the protests Ethan himself had once joined when Murdoch tried to buy the club.
The demonstration changed nothing.
Manchester United then suffered another blow on the pitch.
They lost 2-1 at West Brom.
Ferguson was furious afterwards.
He accused his players of allowing events away from football to distract them from their responsibilities.
"Whether the club is bought or not is not the players' concern when they step onto the pitch," he said. "Their responsibility is to perform and win football matches."
Asked about the Glazers, Ferguson claimed he did not know every detail of their proposal but said he had spoken with David Gill and had been assured that the family possessed a serious long-term business plan.
"They're not quite the villains they're being made out to be," Ferguson said.
Ethan, however, understood that Ferguson had already reached an important accommodation with them.
If the takeover went through, the Glazers would leave football matters largely in Ferguson's hands. He would retain control over training, team selection and transfers.
The important qualification was obvious.
Ferguson could decide which players he wanted.
The owners would still decide how much money he had to buy them.
Soon after the defeat at West Brom, the Glazer family announced that their stake had risen again, this time to approximately 71 per cent.
They were now dangerously close to complete control.
The announcement only deepened the supporters' anger.
Two hours after Manchester United's shock defeat, New Manchester United produced a very different result.
The Red Rebels beat Crystal Palace 4-1 at home.
Their draw at Norwich had irritated everyone at Newton Heath, and the squad had responded with two emphatic performances.
First came the Champions League.
With qualification already secured, Mourinho fielded a mixture of regulars and reserves against Sparta Prague and still watched his side win 5-0 at home. Kaká scored twice.
Then came Crystal Palace.
Mourinho restored several players who had been rested in Europe, and the Red Rebels attacked with the aggression of a team still annoyed by the points dropped at Norwich.
Villa was outstanding.
So was Ronaldo on the left.
Both scored twice as New Manchester United won 4-1.
Elsewhere, Arsenal lost 2-1 at Liverpool.
Xabi Alonso gave Liverpool the lead before Vieira equalised for Arsenal. Then, deep into stoppage time, Gerrard produced a dramatic winner.
That result sent New Manchester United to the top of the Premier League for the first time that season.
Their reward was an immediate trip to Old Trafford.
The first Manchester derby between the two Red Devil sides of the season was approaching.
The newspapers framed it brutally.
Could Manchester United revive their season by beating the Red Rebels?
Or would New Manchester United deepen a crisis that was already threatening to engulf their neighbours?
Manchester United's European position only increased the pressure.
In their fifth Champions League group match, Ferguson's side had lost 2-1 at home to Dynamo Kyiv.
That left them with eight points, one behind Fenerbahçe, and only third in the group.
Their final match, away to Fenerbahçe, would decide whether they reached the knockout stage.
Failure to qualify would cost Manchester United significant prize money and television revenue at exactly the moment the club was entering a financial struggle.
New Manchester United faced the opposite situation.
They had already secured first place in their Champions League group.
Despite the pressure of leading the Premier League, being chased by Arsenal and Chelsea, and defending a league unbeaten run that had now become a national talking point, Mourinho had the freedom to concentrate on Old Trafford.
He had already decided that reserves would play the final Champions League group match away to Porto.
The derby came first.
Manchester United faced another problem as well.
Their own supporters.
Old Trafford had rarely been hostile towards New Manchester United.
Even during the previous season's league meetings, there had been surprisingly little abuse from the home stands.
The rivalry was unusual.
As one Manchester United supporters' representative put it, "Against most clubs, we'll boo until we've got no voices left. If they score against us, we hate every second of it. But New Manchester United are different."
He paused before adding, "It hurts more than it angers us. We don't see them as enemies in the same way, even if they do call themselves the Red Rebels."
Now, however, the takeover battle had changed the atmosphere.
With so many supporter groups openly opposing the Glazers, nobody at Manchester United could be certain what would happen inside Old Trafford.
The club treated the match as a major security operation, with thousands of police officers and stewards deployed in and around the stadium.
There were even reports that the Glazers had privately made their expectations clear to Ferguson.
Manchester United had to win.
Nobody expected what followed.
On the pitch, New Manchester United were about to hurt their neighbours badly.
In the stands, Manchester United's own supporters were preparing an equally painful message for the men trying to buy their club.
Two very different blows were coming.
(To be continued.)b