Manchester United still make more money than sense

Manchester United today announced their financial results for their fiscal year 2019, and it appears that the current owners are well set on their current approach to running the club.

United fans have been complaining for the past couple of years after realising that they were run by parsimonious owners who will give the occasional splurge to the misfiring Ed Woodward, meaning that any manager is not properly given support at vital times, and is not given the players he needs to challenge regularly for the top four, or in Europe.

However, following a season in which United had qualified for the Champions League, United were able to announce revenues of around £620 million, and revenues of £50 million.

Of interest is that United’s commercial growth was relatively stagnant, but it is now a greater some than either matchday revenue and and television broadcast rights. With the new cycle of broadcasting deal kicking in this season, there is an expectation that television revenue should continue to grow from the Premier League.

United now have £200 million net debt - gross debt minus cash - which is perfectly manageable with cash flow and interest rates at their current levels. Indeed, other companies with similarly sturdy footing might consider borrowing more money in order to invest, or perhaps more cynically to pay out as a dividend to investors.

With United’s future relatively secure as a cash cow, there seems little reason to believe that the Glazers will consider selling up unless someone wangs an absolutely huge mountain of cash at their moment, but given Iran have taken to blowing up Saudi oil infrastructure, it might be a while to wait.