On a conference call with investors on Thursday, Manchester United executive vice chairman Ed Woodward put the cost of the missing out on Champions League football at around £30m. Add in the payoff to former manager David Moyes of “single digit millions” and the true cost of the failed Moyes era will be close to £40m.
‘Due to the television deals, we estimate our loss of European football will cost us in the mid £30m. The club’s expectations are to absolutely get back into the Champions League and you’ll see it in the transfer market.’
If there is one club in England that can handle that sort of financial hit it is United who announced record January-March revenues of £115.5m. The increase in revenue was mainly due to rises in income from Premier League broadcasting money and sponsorship deals. Woodward added that sponsorship income rose 43.5% per cent while United’s overall debt is down 4.3% at £351.7m, while the cost of servicing that debt also fell.
Woodward said that he hopes that summer signings and a new manager will see the club return to the Champions League for the 2015-16 campaign,m which seemingly lower expectations about what success will be for United next season.
“The 2013-14 season concluded last weekend and we finished a very disappointing seventh,” Woodward told a conference call. “We’re now focused on bringing in a new manager who will help Manchester United return to the top of English football and challenge in Europe. We expect to make an announcement in due course. In the meantime we continue to be active in the transfer market.
“The club’s expectations, and you will see this reflected in the transfer market, and what we’ve recently done from a managerial perspective – our aim absolutely is to get back into the Champions League.
“We estimate that the isolated impact … of not qualifying for European football will be in the mid-30 millions of pounds. This includes a 15% reduction in the price of executive facilities next year.”
Woodward, who claimed that Manchester United are “so far away from being a mature business”, also confirmed that a new kit deal is progressing and that season tickets for next season are currently “selling well”.
