A Detailed Look at United's Finances

Adam-Utd

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3 years only, not a mortgage
Exactly, we can spread it over 3 transfer windows. I'd rather go big this summer to get into the CL next year than try to do it slowly over 3 different windows and not get top 4.
 

Lentwood

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How does the current situation RE: coronavirus effect Utd's finances and our ability to spend on transfers in the 'Summer' window?

All of the reports are that only a handful of clubs will be in a position to spend but is this newspaper talk or is it backed up by facts?
 

RedorDead21

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I'd actually love it if we came out and said we are giving x million into a fund to help the teams in league y over this period. About to spend 30m maybe on Bellingham and 100m on Sancho as half of players in the lower leagues lose their incomes. But as long as we are in next years title hunt. Form is temporary but class is permanent and clubs like ourselves should be leading the fight to save many from all kinds of financial strife!
 

cyril C

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Considering the subject of stadium upgrade, I think we are extremely lucky. Had we committed half way or finished like Spurs, money is spent but revenue drop. I don't think we will commit into the project this year obviously, but once business resume and market resume normal, we will be able to get a great bargain deal.
 

Bilbo

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I'd actually love it if we came out and said we are giving x million into a fund to help the teams in league y over this period. About to spend 30m maybe on Bellingham and 100m on Sancho as half of players in the lower leagues lose their incomes. But as long as we are in next years title hunt. Form is temporary but class is permanent and clubs like ourselves should be leading the fight to save many from all kinds of financial strife!
It would be a better and much easier solution if the Premier League increased the revenue that they filter down into the lower leagues
 

Adisa

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Confirmed. We paid the entire £80m up front for Maguire.
“In response to the financial impact of Covid-19 we’ve taken action to closely control costs and review our planned capital expenditure.”
 
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United58

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How are we going to do with coronavirus and the impending recession? Our massive wage bill will seriously hinder us surely?
 

tjb

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How are we going to do with coronavirus and the impending recession? Our massive wage bill will seriously hinder us surely?
If other clubs are also losing money, most even more significantly than us, then the effect will not be as magnified as it looks. We may have to cap spending to a reasonable amount, where signing a player like sancho for 100m isn't reasonable anymore, unless we sell Pogba. We should start hawking for cheap young talent and take a punt at a player like Grealish. There will be sales this year and the players that we have on loan with big wages will be off our books soon enough. As long as we can keep our sponsors and the league resumes in June, we will be fine.
 

sun_tzu

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How are we going to do with coronavirus and the impending recession? Our massive wage bill will seriously hinder us surely?
apparently debt rose by £124m last quarter due to a change in currency (I assume our debts in $)
so we lost about 25m due to coronavirus and five times that due the pound tanking
suspect the increased deby and payments might impact us more than CV-19 this summer
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52759246

Chief financial officer Cliff Baty said they are set to hand back £20m in TV revenue to broadcasters even if the Premier League season is completed.

United lost an additional £8m over the final three weeks of March, when they had three matches postponed.

"Our third-quarter results reflect a partial impact that the pandemic has had on the club but the greater impact will be in the current quarter and likely beyond," said Woodward.

Revenues for the quarter fell by 18.7% to £123.7m. The club's debt rose by £124.4m to £429.1m following a fluctuation of the exchange rate.
 

Infra-red

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How are we going to do with coronavirus and the impending recession? Our massive wage bill will seriously hinder us surely?
We were on course for a quiet summer, even before the impact of Covid-19. I doubt there will be much movement at the other big clubs, either, though. United's broadcast revenue is down 51.7% compared to the same period in 2019, and total revenue is down 18.7%. This release covers the period to 31 March only - the full impact of Covid-19 won't be seen until later.
 

Rozay

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The idea of clubs having to give money back to broadcasters, while they still get to show the games they paid for, to record viewers no less - is fecking ridiculous to me.

How can BT Sport be breaking viewing records and asking for a rebate at the same time?
 

Adisa

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The idea of clubs having to give money back to broadcasters, while they still get to show the games they paid for, to record viewers no less - is fecking ridiculous to me.

How can BT Sport be breaking viewing records and asking for a rebate at the same time?
I'm interested in this answer. How do these broadcasting contracts work?
 

Infra-red

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apparently debt rose by £124m last quarter due to a change in currency (I assume our debts in $)
so we lost about 25m due to coronavirus and five times that due the pound tanking
suspect the increased deby and payments might impact us more than CV-19 this summer
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/52759246
Net debt (borrowings minus cash), increased by £127.4m, (BBC's Simon Stone has the wrong figure here) from £301.7m in Q3 2019 to £429.1 in Q3 2020, but this was mostly due to a decrease in our cash reserves in the same period (from £194m to £90m).

Journalists will often report that our "debt has increased", when what they really mean is that our net debt has increased (ie we have spent a load of cash on players). This is presumably done because it makes for a better headline. The gross USD debt principal in fact remains unchanged.
 

Skills

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The idea of clubs having to give money back to broadcasters, while they still get to show the games they paid for, to record viewers no less - is fecking ridiculous to me.

How can BT Sport be breaking viewing records and asking for a rebate at the same time?
They'll pay for it in the next PL TV deal, or a club like United should pull out from the collective deal and sell their own rights.
 

redtilded121

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I still think we will try to sign 3 players and push that expense onto low interest loans with the aim of CL money in the future. I wonder whether wage demands lessen as even most top clubs will have finance issues .
 

RkkMan

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Probably not without selling Pogba, no.
Do we need to though?? The records also say Utd have 90m cash in the bank and accessible 150m in credit facility which is likely to be used for transfers and that isn`t little money in this market. Plus I doubt Sancho`s fee will be paid in entirety up front. Add ons will be involved plus the assured fee is likely to be paid over a duration of time, doesn`t sound like a transfer that needs financing from a big sale.
 

Rozay

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Do we need to though?? The records also say Utd have 90m cash in the bank and accessible 150m in credit facility which is likely to be used for transfers and that isn`t little money in this market. Plus I doubt Sancho`s fee will be paid in entirety up front. Add ons will be involved plus the assured fee is likely to be paid over a duration of time, doesn`t sound like a transfer that needs financing from a big sale.
Not to mention there are other players in the squad we can sell before Pogba to offset some of our outgoings - players who we don’t actually want.
 

arnie_ni

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With the interest rate so low i wouldnt be surprised in the were looking at taking on more debt when its cheap tbh
 

UnitedFan93

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On top of all the money wasted servicing the debt, the Glazers pay themselves roughly £20 million each year in dividends and charge themselves several million each year for consultancy services.

They are only here to extract as much money from United as possible. It really is sickening.
 

red thru&thru

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We're one club who will be in good financial health from this pandemic and can take advantage.
 

Infra-red

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Do we need to though?? The records also say Utd have 90m cash in the bank and accessible 150m in credit facility which is likely to be used for transfers and that isn`t little money in this market. Plus I doubt Sancho`s fee will be paid in entirety up front. Add ons will be involved plus the assured fee is likely to be paid over a duration of time, doesn`t sound like a transfer that needs financing from a big sale.
We already owe a fortune in outstanding transfer fees - £150m due this year, not including the Fernandes deal or another £60m of potential add-ons.
 

Rozay

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We already owe a fortune in outstanding transfer fees - £150m due this year, not including the Fernandes deal or another £60m of potential add-ons.
We are also owed money in transfer fees.
 

Rozay

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Which is why they rejected any offers from the Saudi prince in October , they aren't interested in us being successful or a great team again they just want to milk as much money as they can from us.
If that were true then I imagine they would have made plenty from the sale.
 

red thru&thru

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If that were true then I imagine they would have made plenty from the sale.
Yea, would have made a lot more. Clearly something was going on. Maybe some of the siblings want to sell and the other's don't?
 

MrPooni

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Net debt (borrowings minus cash), increased by £127.4m, (BBC's Simon Stone has the wrong figure here) from £301.7m in Q3 2019 to £429.1 in Q3 2020, but this was mostly due to a decrease in our cash reserves in the same period (from £194m to £90m).

Journalists will often report that our "debt has increased", when what they really mean is that our net debt has increased (ie we have spent a load of cash on players). This is presumably done because it makes for a better headline. The gross USD debt principal in fact remains unchanged.
Appreciate your common sense approach to our finances. Makes a welcome change from the usual misinformed Glazer-baiting.
 
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They'll pay for it in the next PL TV deal, or a club like United should pull out from the collective deal and sell their own rights.
If clubs sold their own rights, you create a league like Spain. No thanks. The PL is fantastic because it’s so competitive, and one of the reasons is fair distribution of tv revenue.
 

RkkMan

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We already owe a fortune in outstanding transfer fees - £150m due this year, not including the Fernandes deal or another £60m of potential add-ons.
We are also owed money in transfer fees as well and the money we owe teams are usually paid over a duration of years anyway not immediately. Plus this is a debt we`ve always had for years and it has never stopped us from spending.
 

Adam-Utd

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correct, we can kiss this deal good bye
Not sure if you're joking or not, but the finances actually say the opposite surely?

We are actually in good shape, now lets wait and see what the books of some of our rivals look like, and say Dortmund themselves.
 

Greck

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We already owe a fortune in outstanding transfer fees - £150m due this year, not including the Fernandes deal or another £60m of potential add-ons.
Been looking for this figure whenever people say to just spread every massive transfer across three years. That thing adds up to the point where every future budget is paying for old transfers. It has to be controlled tightly at some point. No real surprise we decided to pay Maguire's fee upfront