Your being way to kind on the owners pre-H&G, the Moore's are the route cause of our current financial situation.
In a time when Man Utd were exploding commercially and the Premier League was lifting off in the mid 90s, the Moore's did nothing for the club in these areas. We should have exploited our commercial might then and our dominance in the years prior to put ourselves in a financial situation much more dominant than we are now. We could have had finances rivalling United's right now, but instead we're stuck millions behind because of incompetence during those crucial years.
Don't get me wrong, H&G continued this trend but they a marginal improvement over the Moore's'.