Are Man United’s finances holding them back?
episode
Talk of the Devils: The Athletic FC's Manchester United show
44 min
3 speakers
8 chapters
transcribed 3 hours ago
Transcript
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Transcript generated automatically by AI and may contain errors.
What are the headline financial figures for Manchester United this season?
The Athletic F C
This is Talk the Devils, the Athletic Show dedicated to Manchester United. Coming up on the episode today, we take a deep dive, yes indeed, into Manchester United's latest financial results. The end of the tax year 25-26 has brought some interesting numbers, and we will explain to you exactly what they mean and exactly what impact they could have on Manchester United's plans, on stadiums, on transfers, all sorts of different aspects. We've got Chris Witherspoon with us, the athletics finance expert, football finance expert, to do that. And we're also going to look ahead a little bit as well to see if we can lift the gloom a little bit that we're all feeling about Manchester United at the moment and work out how exactly the team, Michael Carrick, the players, the fan base, everyone can move forward from what's been a really disappointing start to this new season.
Hello, Andy. Hello, Laurie, as well, and Chris is joining us right at the very top as well. Thank you, Chris. Before we get into it then, and before we talk about all the different aspects of this, I'm just going to hit you all with some headline figures from the financials that were released earlier on today on Wednesday. So these are the sort of main takeaways, I suppose, that the Athletic have picked out. So, first of all, Manchester United's wage bill dropped to 302 million last. Last season. That's the club's lowest spending on salaries in six years. The club generated a record six hundred and seventy-seven point six million pounds in revenue, which was largely driven by the third place finish, which was achieved in the Premier League.
United reported a bottom line loss though of forty-three million, marking the seventh consecutive year of losses that. Now totals nearly four hundred and fifty million pounds of losses since twenty nineteen. The total financial debt up to six hundred and eighty nine million by the end of June. That's a fifty two million pound increase over the previous year. Wages to revenue ratio fell to forty four point six percent. That's the lowest proportion of income spent on player costs in eighteen years. United invested sixty three point five million to acquire twenty five acres of land near Old Trafford. That's a plot, of course, intended to use for the new stadium that will be built, and available cash as well down to sixty seven point two million, which is a thirteen year low, and that stood at around three hundred million pounds before the pandemic.
So you can see how these things are changing. There's more detail. details that we'll get through as well. But Chris, I suppose, first of all, what's your biggest takeaway with the expertise you've got of these figures announced today?
Too much pressure. Call me an expert twice.
Uh I think they kind of show the product of really the cost cutting that we've seen in the last two and a half years. You know, I mean, like I said, that wage bill, that's the overall club wage bill. Um You know, at just about every football club apart from the ones that get relegated, wages go up. Uh, but at Manchester United they uh they keep coming down. And it it's a bit of a weird one 'cause you want to be more efficient and last year United were more efficient. You know, they finished third in the league with we don't know where their wage bill landed, um, because nobody else has put out figures. But it's almost certainly the highest it was was fifth. And it was probably it could have been even lower than that, you know.
So the fifth highest in the league or maybe the sixth highest in the league?
Yeah, it c it might even be seventh. We don't know. Because You know, so like in twenty-four, twenty-five, Villas was two hundred and seventy-three million, so not that far off three hundred million. Spurs was two hundred and fifty-five and they've invested since. So we don't know exactly where United was, but we do know that it was like a really, really, really long way behind the likes of City, Liverpool, Chelsea. increasingly Arsenal. Arsenal's will have got Arsenal's was forty seven million higher a year ago and it will have definitely gone up last year because they got the Champions League final they won the league.
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Chapters
8 chapters
1
What are the headline financial figures for Manchester United this season?
0:01–6:50
2
How is United’s growing debt affecting its ability to invest in the squad?
6:50–12:06
3
Can United keep up with wage‑to‑revenue trends and still compete for titles?
12:06–19:07
4
What impact do the Glazer‑era debts have on United’s transfer strategy?
19:07–24:46
5
Why is United struggling to sell players profitably compared to rivals?
24:46–30:12
6
How might upcoming Champions League and league fixtures influence United’s finances?
30:12–35:38
7
What are fans’ main concerns about United’s financial health and on‑field performance?
35:38–40:57
8
What key takeaways and next steps were discussed to improve United’s financial outlook?
40:57–44:47