That was never the case. Utd had a large bank debt and were paying serious interest. These guys arrived and wiped the clubs bank debt by giving interest free loans which were to be paid back in transfer fees (not unlike our current model,no?) This was on top of Thompson doing the same with his debt and the Manager being on commission to sell!
They received near £8m but lost Robertson, Ciftci, Armstrong,Gauld,GMS in 1 swoop and after paying back the Investors and Thompson & McNamara taking their cuts, there was fuck all left to reinvest. Hense the freefall since!
Edit : I see Im about a day behind on the replies, Internet on Uist for you!