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Manchester United are currently playing a season that started difficultly under Ruben Amorim, but has now turned much better under new manager Michael Carrick. The Red Devils will almost certainly qualify for the Champions League at the end of the season and thus compete in the premier class again. In this article, we analyze how Manchester United fared financially last season, which was a sporting disaster and ended with them failing to qualify for any international competition. We also discuss how the club is doing financially.
Profit and Loss Breakdown 2024/25: Revenues, Costs and Operating Result
Although the past season turned into a disaster for Manchester United, finishing 15th and losing the Europa League final, it is viewed with mixed feelings financially. In principle, Manchester United achieved sales of 768 million euros, approximately 5 million euros more than in the 2023/24 season. However, expenditure also increased slightly from EUR 836 million to EUR 845 million. Overall, this left an operational loss without other items being included of EUR 77 million. The loss thus also increased by EUR 4 million. In terms of revenue, Manchester United remains among the European elite and achieved the eighth most revenue of any football club worldwide. In addition, Manu is the club with the highest turnover that has not played in the Champions League this season, which shows how much power the club has on the turnover side. However, this is offset by high costs, which means that the club has not been operationally profitable in recent years. However, it must be noted that depreciation for players puts a strain on the operating result. A total of 226 million euros in player write-offs are a burden on the operational result. We have explained a more detailed analysis of how depreciation of player values works using Juventus as an example in another article. The sale of players also includes profits from disposals amounting to 56 million euros in the balance sheet. This means that Manchester United has an operating loss of 12 million euros. A slight improvement over the previous season, when it was still around 17 million euros. In addition, there are financial effects, which mainly arise from current loans, but also income from, for example, interest claims, which in the offsetting process result in further charges amounting to 23 million euros. Thus, the loss before taxes is 35 million euros. In addition, there are 6 million euros in tax effects, which have a positive impact and mean that Manchester United is posting a loss of 29 million euros for the 2024/25 season. This is also a slight improvement for the 2023/24 season, in which the Red Devils suffered a loss of 34 million euros.
If we now take a closer look at the figures for operations, it is striking that although the revenue of EUR 768 million and the expenditure of EUR 845 million differ only slightly from the figures for the previous season, there are major differences in how the figures are composed. Regarding revenue, the first thing that stands out is that revenue in Commercial and Matchday increased compared to the previous year. For Commercial, the increase was EUR 35 million (up from EUR 349 million to EUR 384 million), which represents approximately 10% compared to the previous year. The increase in Matchday revenue is even significantly higher in percentage terms, at 17%. However, the total amount is smaller and stands at EUR 27 million, as revenues in this area increased from EUR 158 million to EUR 185 million. Broadcasting revenues, on the other hand, fell sharply, but this is because these revenues are very closely linked to the distribution of funds for UEFA competitions. Here, Manchester United lost approximately 22% of revenue, representing a loss of 56 million euros (from 256 million to 200 million euros). This is particularly due to the fact that Manchester United finished weaker in the Premier League table (8th place in 2023/24, 15th place in 2024/25) and still participated in the Champions League in the 2023/24 season. An analysis of TV payouts in the Premier League can be found here.
The first thing you notice about spending is that salary spending for players and employees has fallen sharply. These fell in total from EUR 420 million to EUR 361 million. That’s 59 million euros, which represents a 14% reduction in the club’s total salary expenditure. The club’s total spending was nevertheless higher overall than the previous year, largely due to special spending on one-off effects. These were EUR 42 million and consist of two parts. One part includes the special payments to Erik Ten Haag and his staff for early release and amounted to approximately 23 million euros. The other part relates to special costs due to the sale of 25% of the shares in the club to Sir Jim Ratcliffe, who now plays a leading role in the club, and amounted to 19.5 million euros.
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Cash Flow Analysis: How Manchester United Generated and Spent Its Money
After looking at last season in current business in the first part, we now look at cash flow and analyze Manchester United’s total assets. The money United had available as cash flow in the previous season was 99 million euros, an increase of approximately 18% compared to the 2023/24 season (84 million euros). In total, the club was able to add 84 million euros in cash flow from operating activities. Here, a further EUR 242 million was added from financing activities. These are fed by EUR 265 million in loans and EUR 115 million in loan settlements (resulting in approximately EUR 150 million in cash flow from loans). In addition, 92 million euros in cash flow was generated from the sale of shares. In the previous season, the numbers were distributed significantly differently. Here, EUR 128 million in operating cash flow was still generated, but only EUR 70 million from financing activities. This was particularly due to the fact that loans amounting to EUR 265 million were settled. Interestingly, this exact amount was re-taken out as a loan last season, which suggests that the club has restructured itself to reduce the interest on paying off the loans. A total of EUR 325 million in cash flow was generated from both activities (in 2023/24 it was only EUR 198 million), an increase of 64%. However, at the same time, the outflow of funds from investments was also greatly increased. These increased by 120 million euros from 197 million euros to 317 million euros (approx. 61%). This was particularly due to increased spending on intangible assets, which, conversely, were predominantly players. This item rose from €219 million to €321 million. This was due to the high expenditure on transfers among past coaches. A detailed analysis of this can be found in the following article. But the outflow of funds for tangible assets also increased. These increased by EUR 31 million (from EUR 20 million to EUR 51 million).
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Equity and Debt Structure: How Strong Is Manchester United’s Financial Position?
In principle, the analysis of the consolidated balance sheet shows that Manchester United has equity of EUR 871 million. This is a very high and solid value, consisting largely of deposit reserves and stock premiums. If one compares this value, for example, with the equity of FC Barcelona, which even has negative equity (a detailed analysis of the Catalans’ balance sheet can be found here), it becomes clear that Manchester United generally has a lot of its own resources. In addition, the Red Devils’ equity increased by approximately 65 million euros.
However, this is also offset by a large number of debts. These are divided into short-term and long-term debts. The short-term debt amounts to 906 million euros. This short-term debt thus rose by a whopping EUR 301 million (an increase of approximately 50% in comparison with the previous year). This is mainly because trade liabilities increased sharply and loans increased sharply. Accounts payable rose from EUR 279 million to EUR 413 million (up by 48%). This is related to the high transfer expenditure as well as the severance payments for Erik Ten Haag and his staff. Loans also rose sharply from EUR 41 million to EUR 190 million. This means that short-term liabilities due to loans have almost quadrupled. This is related to the debt restructuring described above. Long-term liabilities stood at EUR 799 million and even fell slightly. In the 2023/24 season, these were still 813 million euros. This is particularly because the long-term loans have partly become short-term liabilities as a result of the debt restructuring just described. In total, Manchester United has a balance sheet total of approximately 2.58 billion euros. This grew strongly by 336 million from EUR 2.22 billion. The equity share was approximately 34%, which is a mediocre figure.
Conclusion: What Manchester United’s 2024/25 Finances Mean for the Club’s Future
Overall, it can be stated that Manchester United is an economically very profitable club due to its extremely high revenues, which are not linked to sporting success. The association also has many reserves and manages to achieve a passable value in terms of the equity ratio when using funds. The loss from operational business only suggests that the club is not profitable in its ongoing business. However, this loss is due to high transfer fees, which are considered an investment for Manchester United. In principle, however, the club should be careful not to keep transfer fees constant at this high level over the next few years, as otherwise operational losses could lead to financial problems or the club could be dependent on external donors. The club also wants to modernise the legendary Old Trafford, which would lead to new revenue potential after the modernisation, but in the short term will mean that the club will have to endure significant additional investment. In order for the club to pay for these, either powerful external donors are needed or spending on the transfer market must be reduced sustainably.
