Ryan McKnight, contributor, MSN Money, 28/08/2011 20:45

Manchester United

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Manchester United (Image: Jon Super - AP)

Image: Jon Super - AP

Owners: the Glazer family

Manchester United's last accounts showed they earned over double the income of Manchester City. However, where City were paying £4 million a year on their net £41 million of debt (which has probably gone now), United were paying £107 million in interest on their staggering £590 million debt.

That figure has reduced slightly - and talk of share offerings on foreign markets may reduce it further - but it remains the main barrier to United being consistently profitable. Sir Alex Ferguson has still been able to spend almost £50 million net on players over the past two seasons.

With the club operating a wages-to-turnover ratio of under 50%, it is such a shame that so much cash is leaving the game to service debt.

New deals, such as the most recent with DHL, will see United comfortably in the Financial Fair Play requirements and a probable return to breaking-even soon.

Profit Likelihood: 7/10

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12Comments

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michael (mickythefish)

29/08/2011 11:13

Get rid of ALL debt in football, Football is a sport and should not be treated as a commercial enterprise. Big teams with big names can borrow money against the club assets this gives an unfair advantage over smaller clubs. All should be given a five year period to sort out any debts. Any club not showing a black figure in the bank at the start of the season should be barred from cup football and persistant offenders docked points. Lets get the game back to being a game and not a rich mans toy for making money.

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peter dickson (NovoCat)

29/08/2011 19:30

Football used to be a Saturday afternoon sport, with Wednesdays for cup replays and to help with fixture pile-ups. TV now dictates days and times of most top matches, without a thought for the fans. Top clubs nowadays have become status symbols for shady mega-rich characters(for want of a better description), who buy in foreign players as a ready fix, instead of nurturing home grown players. This is the crux of the problems the national team has, with so many imports and not enough British players in the top clubs.

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Someone (MrBenggo)

29/08/2011 15:24

If football clubs were manufacturing firms the whole lot of 'em would have gone to the wall ages ago.Paying someone ridiculous amounts of money to kick a ball round a field for 90 minutes is just bloody mental.

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Aidan Phillips (HUFC 47)

29/08/2011 21:50

Its a shame that football clubs can't fill their gounds.

The premiership may be the best league in the world but it looks bad on tv when no ones in the grounds.

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Micheal

29/08/2011 18:17

as we all know football has gone down a very dark road like most people who take the time to write on these pages I love the game but we all know that two things are driving football that is money and greed and as usual the people who should be taking the lead like the FA and the likes of scudimore sit in their offices and do noting they just say its noting to do with us what is it they do must be a great job and yes I know we all know this but until we get someone in charge who hasn't got their snout in the trough then things will sadly remain the same so don't hold your breath

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Dave R (One Muscateer)

11/09/2011 20:00

Anyone who believes that thetaxman gets half of the money paid to foreign footballers (and some home growns too) is deluded. They are using offshore companies as tax shields and paying very litlle if anything back to the UK. It needs sorting and quickly. Tevez has barely paid a penny in six years in the UK.

Beyond that they are overpaid anyway. All Premiership footballers should be on a base wage of not more than £2k per week which is enough for anyone. Then they can ber paid appearance money for playing for the first team, say £25k. Players on the bench are then paid proportionate to time on the field. That'll sort them out and stop clubs hoovering up all available talent.

Time to get this all sorted.

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chris (Pandora can eat lead)

30/08/2011 17:04

I have no issue paying them big wages. They are entertainers and half goes to the taxman anyway. Falling or stagnant crowds at small - mid clubs is dissapointing but Footie is now v expensive unless you support a L1/2 club. So why not do that, rediscover what English football is all about in the lower leagues and support your local team! In answer to the Question: yes clubs can win trophies and make a genuine profit, albeit the Johnstones paint trophy or Championship title.

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Someone122

30/08/2011 15:13

Footballers get paid massive wages because guess what? No one pays to see the chairman, club manager or groundsmen. They are the reason why so much money goes into football, want clubs were there's no debt then go and watch third division football and stop being green eyed over the fact that footballers get grands a week and you don't because you fail at life.

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Eddy Hutchinson (annoyed red)

07/09/2011 08:56

Ryan McKnight - your obviously a very deluded Man Utd fan. Look further into the figures especially at liverpool and you will see we are more than likely to make a profit in the near future. We have agreed a new kit sponsor with Warrior Sports (record fee i beleive), we are 90% likely to extend anfield to 60,000 seater which will be full every game, we have coca cola asking for naming rights to the stadium to the tune of £200million and the owners are continually getting investment for the club, oh and we have reduced our wage bill by approx £12million! - so why you say we have no chance of profit in the near future proves you dont really know what you are talking about - do your homework before you do a right up, you gave MU 7/10 - funny. MSN - worse than the Scum newspaper

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Mike Smith (branditus)

13/09/2011 16:40

Swansea posted a profit last year in the championship. 'if' we can survive this season, we will make a hefty profit this next year

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Someone (Kirkby Corky)

16/09/2011 20:25

The only answer is "STOP GOING TO THE MATCH FOR A MONTH" see how the administraters and FA and Sky Sports get on with that

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Sean Caldwell (Mr O Scar)

03/09/2011 23:03

I get annoyed when people say the premiership footballers get paid too much... they are at the pinicle of a massive sport, and just like any other business that tries to maintain tallent within its ranks, thay have to pay thier employees enough so that another employer does not snap them up.

All players are actually getting the market rate for their services... well, except for Torres.

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