Manchester United are one of the most successful football clubs in the world and they certainly do not seem to be worried about the spiralling debts.
In a recent interview given by the Chief Executive David Gill, Manchester United may have significant debts due to the purchase made by the Glazer family in 2005, but they have enough income in the form of TV revenue and various other venues to service the debt. Recently, Manchester United managed to bring down their debts – that were in the region of almost £ 1 billion – to just around £ 500 million.
UEFA will be introducing the FairPlay regulation rules from 2013 onwards, which will demand clubs to make only around £ 35 million of losses over a three-year period. David Gill believes that Manchester United will be able to comfortably meet this requirement by UEFA.
David Gill also said that it is the structure of the Premier league that makes English football extremely competitive when compared with other leagues across the world like Spain. For example, he quoted the fact that Manchester United received only £ 60 million for winning the Premier league title last season, while the bottom team received a £ 40 million. This gap is much more profound in Spain.
“As a plc we thought we were one of the most commercially astute clubs and were leading the world of football, but the world has moved on in the last 5-7 years. The owners have been true to their word by investing for the long term. Our revenue is one-third match day, one-third from commercial revenue and one-third from TV. It is a very spread risk. Commercial revenues are very high margin and long term.” David Gill said. The fact that they remain top of the FA Cup Odds and Premier League odds tables seems to prove Gill’s point.
Manchester United have more than 300 million fans across the world, and some of the World’s best footballers. Wayne Rooney remains the most influential player, and England fans will be hoping he can pull the strings for England too – he is one of the main reasons that England’s Euro 2012 Odds are as low as they are.