To mark the 20th anniversary of the Glazer family acquiring Manchester United, I thought it would be appropriate to look at how the club’s finances have developed in the last two decades, highlighting the good, the bad and the ugly.

In May 2005 the Glazers bought the shareholdings of Irish businessmen JP McManus and John Magnier to take their shareholding to 76%. They did this via a highly controversial leveraged buy-out, borrowing against the club, then using United’s revenue to service the debt via staggering amounts of interest.

Although Sir Jim Ratcliffe has become the central figure at Old Trafford, having responsibility for all football operations, the fact is that he only purchased 28.9% of the club.

Therefore, even after this large sale, the Glazers remain very much in control, as they still own around 49%, while the nature of their shares means that they actually have over two-thirds of the voting rights.

Overview

The last season before the Glazers arrived was 2004/05, so there have been 19 full seasons since then up to the latest annual accounts for 2023/24, though we do also have some figures from the interim accounts for 2024/25.

In that period, United swung from an £11m pre-tax profit to a hefty £131m loss. Even though revenue has shot up by £505m and profit from player sales rose £38m, this has been outpaced by £620m growth in operating expenses, while net interest payable increased by £64m.

All revenue streams have significantly increased, led by commercial £260m, followed by broadcasting £173m and match day £71m. Staff costs are also much higher, with wages and player amortisation up £288m and £163m respectively. In addition, other expenses rose £115m, while there was a £40m increase in exceptional items.

Before the Glazers

So how did United’s finances look before the Glazers bought the club, i.e. in 2004/05?

In short, they were very good.

They had the highest revenue in England, the highest EBITDA, the highest operating profit and the second highest pre-tax profit. This was also the last time that United had net interest receivable, as opposed to paying out tens of millions in interest.