There has been some financial analysis going around by Swiss Ramble, but it is actually not very useful. The problem is that you cannot look at a 15 year period of financials as it completely covers any patterns or signs of improvement/worsening of the issues. So, I have decided to do a separate thread to show the reality. And that financials are not really an issue anymore.
Firstly, I am posting the pie chart from Swiss Ramble and then I am posting a split of this pie chart into Ferguson and Post-Ferguson periods, which are about 8 year periods. Ideally, I would do more, but I can't be bothered, but this will show how time periods can manipulate financial information.
Swiss Ramble Analysis
Ferguson Period (2006-2013)
Post-Ferguson Period (2013-2021)
The debt repayments, dividends, and interest were 16% together in the Swiss Ramble analysis, but when you split it into smaller time periods it shows that it used to be at about 30% in the Ferguson period. Things have changed in the period afterward, where it is down to only about 6% together, so things have actually drastically improved during the last 8 years, in terms of financials. You can see how the 15 year period was actually hiding this massive improvement, and how bad the interest etc. actually was during the Ferguson period. Interest currently is very low, averaging at about 20m per year for the last 8 years. So, it is not really surprising they are not actually paying down the debt as to do so would be counter productive to themselves and the club.
Player purchases have increased by 15% of total expenditure, and wages have increased 8% of total expenditure (23% together). The drop in interest and repayments etc. is 24% (30% to 6%). You can actually see with the 23% increase in expenses on players and the 24% drop in interest and repayments that the money has actually been put back into the club. Very little of the increase has actually been taken out by the owners.
Interest over the past 8 years is down from 538m (Ferguson period) to 166m (Post-Ferguson period). Both periods are about 8 years, so it is a massive difference. Repayments are negative because they have taken out more loan, some of it being due to the covid and the lockdown. But repaying the loan is pretty pointless as I stated earlier.
Overall, I think the financial side isn't all that bad now. I think people are being hooked on the past, but there have been tremendous improvements in terms of money going back into the club. Only about 6% is actually spent on non-club activities in the last 8 years. So, 94% of expenses are actually club related. In the end, you can't do anything about the past, but there have been enough improvement to make the financial side a non-issue.
This all indicates that the real issue has been management. Now, the Glazer's are very hands-off owners in that they do not really interfere with management (supported by Ferguson saying they pretty much left him to his job), however those they have employed have not done the best job. It might be that the Glazers may decide to make changes due to recent issues, and start managing a bit more than they have. It is not resources that are the issue, but the poor use of them.
In the end, I don't think getting rid of the Glazers is the answer. I think improving the managers in the club will be, and I am starting to think we are potentially on course for that.