Whilst results on the pitch are from ideal, Ineos do seem to be making some progress off it.
Financial results
The club announced yesterday that it has recorded the highest revenue in its history.
United managed to turn over £665.5 million but this also must be understood in the context that they still made a loss of £33 million for the year.
Wage issues
Before Sir Jim Ratcliffe bought the club, one of the key problems that was highlighted were the inflated wages the club was paying its players.
Since Ineos have arrived, there has been a dramatic slashing of the wage bill with under-performing high earners being shipped out and replaced.
What’s more, no new signing has exceeded a strict salary cap with high-profile signings like Bryan Mbeumo and Matheus Cunha having to fit into this new structure.
Below Arsenal
The Times reports that “Manchester United’s wage bill has fallen below Arsenal’s for the first time in the Premier League era, the club’s annual accounts have revealed.”
The report explains that the “cost-cutting regime imposed by Sir Jim Ratcliffe’s Ineos operation at United, getting some high-earning players off the payroll and not being in the Champions League last season all contributed to the club’s wage bill dropping by £51.5million (14 per cent) from £364.7million to £313.2million for 2023-24.”
This is set to make United the fifth highest spenders when it comes to wages behind, “Manchester City, Liverpool, Chelsea and, for the first time since the start of the competition in 1992, Arsenal.”
In fact, they currently spend a good £100 million less on wages than their city rivals who spend £413 million a year, the highest in English football.
Kieran Maguire, a football finance expert at the University of Liverpool commented, “the failure to qualify for the Champions League combined with the redundancies at Old Trafford could result in them falling below Arsenal for the first time in terms of wages.”
He added, “these results indicate just how crucial it is for Manchester United to return to Champions League qualification if they want to compete at the very top level.”
Featured image Michael Regan via Getty Images
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Alex Browne
Alex is a huge Manchester United fan, inspired by greats of his homeland such as George Best, Harry Gregg and Norman Whiteside. Proud owner of such niche shirts such as Kleberson, Eric Djemba-Djemba and Gary Neville. Grew up pretending to be Ruud van Nistelrooy and Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the back garden, with little success.
