Manchester United is not only one of the most famous teams worldwide, to the point that just two years ago, it had the highest number of followers on Facebook, only behind Madrid and Barcelona. It is also one of the most financially troubled teams. The club that visits Anoeta stadium today (18:45 hours) to face Real Sociedad in the Europa League has a glorious past but a future marked by the danger of bankruptcy.
Fifteen years ago, United was the second football club in the world in terms of revenue generation, only behind Madrid, according to the consulting firm Deloitte. Today, it is a ship on the verge of sinking, having lost 300 million pounds (almost 375 million euros) in the last three years.
The situation is desperate enough for the club to be in danger of breaching the English Football League's financial regulations this season, which could lead to point deductions, financial intervention, or even, in the worst-case scenario, relegation. Manchester United's problems are not only with the British sports authorities. If the team does not improve its financial state, it will also violate UEFA regulations.
The arrival of billionaire Jim Ratcliffe to the club in 2024 has not fixed things, despite his entry into United's capital as a minority partner with around 30% of the shares being seen by some fans as a light at the end of the tunnel.
Ratcliffe had it all. He was born in the Greater Manchester area and was a proven loyal supporter of the team. For a fiercely loyal fan base to the club's local roots, Ratcliffe was the antithesis of the American billionaire family Glazers, who have been controlling the entity since buying it for 800 million pounds (almost one billion euros) in 2005.
Fans have never taken to the Glazers, so Ratcliffe's arrival, especially when it was agreed that he would oversee the sporting aspects, was greeted with a wave of optimism. But the local hero also came with cost-cutting scissors, especially in personnel, which plunged the poor fans back into depression. Additionally, Manchester United does not have a personnel spending problem, as it invests less in that area than the average Premier League teams.
United's problem is very basic: it does not win, and it does not qualify for the Champions League. Without these two premises, it cannot fill Old Trafford stadium, nor secure substantial broadcasting rights. And if it does not generate revenue, the team is unable to cope with a monstrous debt. United has operating profits. But that is not very useful when it owes 731.5 million pounds, or 875 million euros. Last week, 200 employees were laid off, and 250 were let go the previous year.
The team's debt problem is precisely a consequence of the acquisition by the Glazers, who financed it through debt that was later burdened on the club, placing a 500 million pound burden on it. In these 20 years, United has paid 750 million pounds in interest, only to find itself owing nearly 50% more than when it was acquired.