Manchester United have published a set of accounts that manage to contain record revenue, an operating profit and a debt pile that still sits above a billion pounds. Which of those numbers you choose to lead with says a lot about whether you are the club's chief executive or one of the supporters who has been protesting outside the ground.
The headline figures first. Revenue for the year was 677.6m pounds, a club record, and the operating profit came in at 22.6m. Twelve months earlier United posted a loss of 113.2m, so on the face of it Sir Jim Ratcliffe's cost-cutting has done what it was meant to do. That is the version Omar Berrada put forward on Wednesday, and it is not wrong. It is just not the whole picture.
Where the billion comes from
The historic debt from the Glazer family's leveraged buyout in 2005 now stands at 577.6m pounds. Add the 111.4m outstanding on the revolving credit facility, then add the transfer fees United still owe to other clubs, which club sources say make up roughly three-quarters of the 473m listed under trade and other payables. Stack those together and the total is comfortably north of a billion, even though it has come down from 1.3bn at the end of December.
Net finance costs rose by 228.3 per cent to 69.6m pounds, most of which United attribute to a foreign exchange loss. Kieran Maguire, the football finance academic, points out that the interest bill alone has now passed a billion pounds since the 2005 takeover. That is money that has left the club without buying a single player or a single seat.
The stadium money
Then there is the new ground. United confirmed they spent 63.5m pounds on land for the stadium that will sit about 350 yards from the current Old Trafford. That money came out of an extra 125m dollars, roughly 94m pounds, that was added to the historic debt during a summer refinancing. The club has not said what happened to the remaining 30m or so. The stadium itself is expected to cost more than 2bn.
United's argument is that the extra borrowing was ring-fenced for the stadium and should not be read as money withheld from the squad. The trouble is that the loan sits inside the club accounts, and supporters who watched the summer window unfold are in no mood to be told the two things are unrelated.
What 148m actually bought
Three players. Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans cost 148m pounds between them, which is less than a third of the 458m Manchester City spent and less even than newly promoted Ipswich. No left-back arrived to cover for Luke Shaw, who has already missed three matches through injury. No striker arrived to share the load with Benjamin Sesko, whose shin problem from the summer has flared up again. Michael Carrick's side sit 12th in the Premier League and are already out of the EFL Cup, and the women's team have one point from three games at the bottom end of the WSL.
Salary costs fell by 11.3m pounds to 302m, which the club puts down to the changed make-up of the first-team squad and two rounds of redundancies that cost around 450 people their jobs. United also saved 8.5m of the 16.5m they had expected to pay Ruben Amorim after he took the AC Milan job. Berrada said the results show the club is on the right trajectory and will keep a disciplined approach. The fans marching past the Munich clock would use different words.
Financial context: Manchester United annual results, published Wednesday 23 September 2026. Revenue 677.6m pounds (record). Operating profit 22.6m (loss of 113.2m in 2023-24). Historic debt 577.6m, revolving credit facility 111.4m, trade and other payables 473m. Net finance costs 69.6m, up 228.3 per cent. Stadium land purchase 63.5m from a 125m dollar refinancing. Summer transfer spend 148m on Baleba, Santos and Tielemans. Salary bill 302m, down 11.3m. United 12th in the Premier League.
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