This is entirely thanks to the owners. They failed in the summer of 2016 to strengthen the squad and once Payet left, results worsened considerably. They failed again last summer to strengthen the squad, leading to the inevitable departure of Bilic, who most liked. They then signally failed to support Moyes in January, at which point most fans were becoming irate, especially after they'd promised the 'next level' with the move.
Fan groups gathered together to organise a protest march which everyone was on board with, and then the owners asked for a meeting. This was attended by a number of groups, although it became increasingly clear that the club only wanted to talk with one group, headed by ex ICF members. A letter to the fans group following that meeting by Brady mentioned a private meeting held between David Sullivan and 'lead representatives' before the meeting with wider groups, which turned out the be the same. The ex-ICF group then unilaterally declared that the march was off, and followed it up by declaring that anyone who did march would be met with violence. It was around this point that another ex ICF (the most respected of all of them) said that he had been offered £20,000 but he refused it and still wanted to march. He then announced that he was walking away from the club, hinting that others may have taken a bung.
There is a strong suspicion that the owners of the club co-opted a fan group to make them their attack dog against other fans. Whatever anger there was previously intensified by multiples. I cant recall it ever being this bad, and believe me we've seen this sort of thing plenty over the years.
