Drumming Dutch defender Jaap Stam out of Old Trafford with indecent haste was one. Signing midfielder Eric Djemba-Djemba, who Ferguson confessed was his "worst signing ever" at a recent charity dinner, was another.

Yet come the end of this season if United fail to land a 12th Premier League title then Ferguson, most of all, might rue the day United decided not to stump up the cash to keep Carlos Tevez at Old Trafford.

With each goal Tevez slots home at Manchester City it begins to look like the worst £30m Ferguson never spent.

The tally stands at three so far this week, 15 since he joined in the summer and 11 in his last nine matches.

And that is from a player Ferguson did not class as a goal-scoring striker.

Let's be fair to Ferguson. He rated Tevez. Rated the Argentine as a world-class substitute. As an impact player whose scampering style and huge work-rate could cause havoc when he came on with 20 minutes to go against a tired defence.

He just did not believe he was consistent enough to be a front-rank striker in a team with ambitions of retaining the Premier League title and regaining the Champions League trophy.

That is beginning to look like a mistake.

Apart from 'Why did Ferguson sign that well-known statue called Berbatov?' all the talk right now at Old Trafford is of the proposed £500m bond deal, the crippling £49m interest payments and the fact that the club only managed to make a profit last season because of the £80m sale of Cristiano Ronaldo.

It is becoming obvious that the huge debts taken on by the owners, the American Glazer family, threaten the club's power base.

But on the field it is just as obvious that United lack goals and energy. The sort Tevez is supplying at Eastlands.

The evidence suggests that Tevez, who left Old Trafford believing Ferguson and chief executive David Gill did not do enough to try to keep him, is revelling in proving his point.

Proving that he is not just a footballing road-runner, racing around in pinball fashion, linking the play and causing chaos but too frantic when the chance appears to put the ball in the net.

It did not look that way on Monday against Blackburn when, apart from a fortunate first goal, Tevez's hat-trick showed the composure and tidy accuracy which is the hallmark of the accomplished striker.

It's true, Tevez had a slow start at City, scoring just twice before December.

But now look at the statistics. With 12 league goals he has scored as many as Liverpool's Fernando Torres and twice as many as City's main striker Emmanuel Adebayor.

Only Tottenham's Jermain Defoe, United's Wayne Rooney and Chelsea's Didier Drogba, all with 14, and Sunderland's Darren Bent (13) have scored more this season.

City, meanwhile, are up into fourth place and if they win their game in hand will be just three points behind United.

Not that new manager Roberto Mancini should be hailed as the messiah just yet. His four straight victories have come against Stoke, Wolves and Blackburn as well as in the FA Cup against Middlesbrough. All matches former boss Mark Hughes would have expected to win.

A sterner test comes on Saturday away at in-form Everton, a match followed by the eagerly-anticipated Carling Cup semi-final first leg on Tuesday against Manchester United.

A chance for Tevez to ram home to Ferguson exactly what he is missing.