Manchester United's overall debt remains above £1 billion despite Sir Jim Ratcliffe's cost-cutting drive, the club's latest accounts show, with United also confirming they spent £63.5 million buying land for their planned new stadium.
The figures arrive against a backdrop of fan protests and a poor start to the season that has left the team 12th in the Premier League and already out of the EFL Cup.
The headline numbers tell a more positive story on paper: record revenues of £677.6 million and an operating profit of £22.6 million, even without European football for the first time in a decade, a sharp turnaround from the £113.2 million loss posted in 2023-24.
United also saved £8.5 million of a projected £16.5 million pay-off owed to sacked manager Rúben Amorim after he took the AC Milan job, part of redundancy programmes that have cost 450 people their jobs across two rounds of cuts, helping reduce salary costs by £11.3 million to £302 million.
Other costs have risen sharply, however. Net finance costs reached £69.6 million for the year, up 228.3%, which the club attributed largely to a foreign exchange loss. The stadium land purchase came from an additional $125 million (£94.14 million) added to United's historic debt during a summer refinancing, though the club has not detailed what happened to the remaining roughly £30 million from that sum; the new stadium itself is expected to cost more than £2 billion.
Overall debt, while down from £1.3 billion at the end of December, still exceeds £1 billion once historic debt of £577.6 million, £111.4 million outstanding on the revolving credit facility, and outstanding transfer fees, said to make up around 75% of £473 million in trade and other payables, are added together.
Supporters remain frustrated by what they see as under-investment in Michael Carrick's squad this summer. United spent £148 million on three signings, Carlos Baleba, Andrey Santos and Youri Tielemans, less than a third of Manchester City's £458 million outlay and even less than promoted Ipswich Town spent.
Fans have particularly questioned the absence of a new left-back to challenge the injury-prone Luke Shaw, and the lack of cover for Benjamin Šeško, whose recurring shin problem cost him pre-season. The Women's Super League squad has also drawn criticism for a lack of investment, sitting second bottom of its table with one point from three games.
Chief executive Omar Berrada defended the club's approach: "We are pleased to have secured record revenues. This demonstrates the underlying strength of our business, and shows the direct impact of the work we have been doing over the past two years. While these results confirm that we are on the right trajectory, we will continue to take a disciplined approach to ensure our finances remain sustainable. With that financial sustainability in mind, we have strengthened both our men's and women's teams during the summer window and our men's team has seen the return of Champions League football to Old Trafford."