Glazers cash in as United break £500m barrier

MANCheSTeR UNITeD have become the first British football club to rake in £500million in a year — while their owners pocketed £15m. Figures released yesterday show the Old Trafford outfit generated a staggering income of £515.3m for the year ending June 30.

In world football, the amount is second only to Barcelona, who announced revenues of £570m in July

The figures also revealed that, for the first time under a controversial dividend scheme, £20m was paid out to shareholders.

That means the six members of the Glazer family, who own 80 per cent of shares, have received their first annual windfalls of around £2.5m and have effectively emptied £15m from United’s bank account. The vast revenue at Old Trafford is thanks largely to United’s world-record £750m kit deal with Adidas and a relentless commercial drive which has seen them sign 14 lucrative deals with new sponsors.

The Glazer family took control of United in 2005 with a leveraged buyout, which saw them borrow £525m and transfer the debt to the club.

United remain in debt to the tune of £260.9m, a rise of £5.7m on the previous year. Much of the debt relates to the takeover and while their commercial activity alone is enough to pay off that figure, it is thought that the club retain the debt for tax purposes.

The spreadsheet also revealed the cost of the departure of Louis van Gaal and his staff. Former manager Van Gaal was sacked in May, following FA Cup final victory and a fifth-place Premier League finish, and replaced by Jose Mourinho.

The Dutchman and his backroom team were given £8.4m, which is less than the £10m-plus Sportsmail last week revealed everton had paid the sacked Roberto Martinez.

German midfielder Bastian Schweinsteiger has also been written off, having been deemed surplus to requirements by Mourinho.

executive vice-chairman ed Woodward said: ‘Our (results) reflect the continued underlying strength of the business and the club is on target to achieve record revenues in 2017, even without the Champions League.

‘This strong financial performance has enabled us to invest in our squad, team management and facilities to position us to challenge for, and win, trophies in the coming years.

‘We’re writing the next chapter in our history. We believe this investment should translate into further growth of the club financially.’