Skip to main content

Manchester United debt increases by £71.6m

Manchester United’s net debt has increased by £71.6 million in the space of three months to £409.3m, the club’s quarterly financial report has confirmed.

The report, which covers three months up to December 31, 2016, shows that the club’s total overheads rose 27.1 per cent between September 2016 and the end of the calendar year. This comes despite the new Premier League TV deal coming into effect, with the gains being offset by the loss of Champions League revenue.
United have put the loss down in no small part to the significant drop in the value of the pound since the referendum in favour of the United Kingdom leaving the European Union, citing the strengthened US dollar as another factor.
However, United do expect to return record revenues once more after topping the Deloitte Football Money League for the first time in over a decade in 2015-16.
In delivering the report, executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward said: “We are pleased to be competing for the first available trophy of the season when we travel to Wembley to face Southampton in the EFL Cup final this month.
“The robustness of our business model continues to be reflected in our strong quarterly financial results and we remain on track to deliver record revenues for the year.”
One curiosity in the report is the inclusion of Bastian Schweinsteiger under ‘exceptional items’, with the German midfielder’s return to Jose Mourinho’s plans in recent months being reflected in the accounts as a £4.8m boost to the squad’s value.
Schweinsteiger was excluded from the first team by Mourinho at the start of the season but has since made a comeback and has been added to their list of players eligible to feature in the Europa League. United begin the knockout stage with the first leg of their tie against Saint-Etienne on February 16.



Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Return Nigeria’s Stolen Assets, SERAP Urges Trump

Socio-Economic Rights and Accountability Project (SERAP) has urged the President of the United States of America (USA), Donald Trump, to attach and release to Nigeria, some $500 million worth of US-based proceeds of corruption traced to former Nigerian dictator, late General Sani Abacha. SERAP, which made this request in an open letter it send to the US President, also urged President Trump to initiate discussions with the Nigerian government to fulfill these objectives within an agreed framework and timeline. The organisation in the letter dated 3 February 2017 and signed by the organization’s US Volunteer Counsel Professor Alexander W. Sierck and executive director Adetokunbo Mumuni, also wants the Trump’s Administration to instruct the Justice Department to initiate civil asset forfeiture proceedings in regard to the $500 million in assets. SERAP further stated, “these proceeds are separate from the $480 million of Abacha-origin funds that have been forfeited to the US...

Record signing, Oscar lands in Shanghai to join SIPG

 Brazilian midfielder Oscar landed in Shanghai on Monday where the 25-year-old was set to smash the Asian transfer record with a reported 60 million euros ($63 million) deal with Shanghai SIPG. Dozens of supporters chanting club songs swarmed the former Chelsea player at the city’s Pudong airport. Oscar’s arrival in the Chinese Super League comes ahead of that of Argentina’s former Manchester United striker Carlos Tevez, who signed for Shanghai Shenhua in another big-money deal last week.  Tevez’s transfer fee was 10.5 million euros, according to the website transfermarkt.com, which tracks dealings in the sport, though the reported two-year contract of 38 million euros per season ($40 million) makes him the world’s highest salaried footballer. SIPG’s general manager on Monday dismissed concerns raised by state media of a market bubble in the super-rich Chinese league, arguing prices have to be higher to attract players away from big European leagues. “The leagu...

Ancient crocodile bones discovered in Xi'an

Ancient bones unearthed in Xi'an, capital of Shaanxi province, have led archaeologists to suggest that the area may have been home to wild crocodiles thousands of years ago. Experts have been excavating the Haojing site since the 1930s, with the latest dig running from 2012 to last year. The site was once the capital of the Western Zhou Dynasty (c.11th century-771 BC), with countless relics having been discovered there over the years. However, the ancient crocodile bones took archaeologists by surprise. The bones were discovered in an ash pit late last year, according to the Shaanxi Archaeology Institute, which is leading the excavation in Xi'an's southwestern Chang'an district. "The archaeologists were surprised because it's the first time crocodile bones have been unearthed near the city," it said. An ash pit is a general term used by experts to describe an ancient cave or cellar. The one in which the bones were found was of an irregular sh...