Image-conscious to the last, more than perhaps anyone else on the planet, David Beckham knows that pictures speak louder than words. A man covered in tattoos, and with a keen sense of the way in which his every action will be interpreted by the media, is hardly likely to have been ignorant of the symbolism of draping a green and gold scarf around his neck before disappearing down the tunnel at Old Trafford last night – no matter what he said post-match about it being a gesture of support for the team rather than the Red Knights.

The unexpected boost from Beckham, and a picture that immediately supplanted Wayne Rooney on the back pages, capped a night that could hardly have gone better for the Manchester United Supporters' Trust, the group co-ordinating the green and gold protests and attempting to galvanise support for the Red Knights.

They managed to quell talk of what may have been a divisive and cack-handed protest – staying away from Old Trafford for the first 10 minutes of the match – and instead, with the game won, unleashed wave after wave of highly vocal anti-Glazer chants and a series of banners that will have been received loud and clear by the global TV audience.

That is significant given that one of their most pressing tasks is to take the message to United's global fanbase – nebulously put at 333 million in the recent bond offer documents – that is the other engine of the Glazers' plans to continue to boost revenues at the club. As well as raising ticket prices and expanding the number of corporate hospitality packages on offer, the Glazers' plan is to increase vastly the number and value of global sponsorship packages on offer in the hope of continuing to bring in enough money to both keep the team winning and draw down the millions required to pay off their high interest hedge-fund loans secured on their shareholding.

But while the Must PR drive, which has now signed up more than 128,000 members (an increase of around 80,000 since news of the Red Knights plans leaked), appears to be proving successful, that will only take them so far. Their plan, so far well realised, has been to keep the campaign positive and inclusive in spirit.

The Red Knights plan will move into a new phase today when they announce the appointment of the Japanese investment bank Nomura. Must has provided the platform, now it is up to the Knights – led by the Goldman Sachs chief economist, the former United board member and friend of Sir Alex Ferguson Jim O'Neill – to show their hand.

If they don't step forward soon and put some meat on the bones of their plan, outlining exactly how it will work and what the role of supporters will be, vital momentum will be lost and all the questions about whether it is viable to expect a disparate group of up to 60 investors to act with common cause will get louder. They will also have to reassure the green and gold hordes that their promise to give supporters a stake in the club's future is a meaningful one.

Must also has tough choices to make. At some point it will have to decide whether and when to turn up the heat on the Glazers by attempting to persuade the corporate hospitality box owners and season ticket holders so vital to the Glazers' projections not to renew. Such a move is not without risk, coming as it does with the prospect of a return to the People's Front of Judea-style splits that hobbled the original post-takeover protests.

But many think it will be necessary if any bid to oust the Glazers is to succeed. They say United is not for sale, that they are in it for the long term. The fear is that they believe they can turn Manchester United into even more of a cash cow over the seven-year bond period – whether by selling their own overseas rights, exploiting new media or contemplating the promised land of a European super league. Certainly the other memorable image of last night – Avram Glazer laughing as the banners went up around him and the chants got louder – did not suggest they feel unduly threatened.

But if the enthusiasm and momentum generated by an Old Trafford rocking with righteous indignation last night can be harnessed by the Knights, then the cynics may yet be proved wrong.