Members of the Red Issue forum who were behind today’s fly over plane have released a statement to explain the reasons behind the banner:

Today’s protest was never just about a few results in isolation, nor should today’s result leave supporters with any illusions. The supporters who backed the protest in several polls today have seen the value of the move.

That some supporters have chosen to get carried away about a result that was, until recently, the very definition of ‘run-of-the-mill’ demonstrates how successfully standards have been lowered since last summer.

The flypast was a statement of protest about the overall trajectory of the club under a manager who has no clear plan, no powers of motivation and who projects a sense that this job is simply too big for him in every utterance, whether in comments regarding the opposition, or in his reported comments today regarding the quality of the playing squad.

We would remind him that this squad are the current Premier League champions.

Having spent almost £70m on two new players, David Moyes has taken the club to seventh position currently, breaking several unwanted records in the process.

While we all expected a period of adjustment, claims that a such a significant drop off was inevitable or acceptable following the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson ring hollow when we see the improvements made by those of our immediate competitors that changed their manager last summer, including Moyes’s former club, Everton.

Even accepting the fact that several players will need to be replaced in the near future, we do not believe that David Moyes is the person capable of rebuilding the team to the necessary standard.

There are better, more progressive, managers out there. Time for a proper alternative.