As Manchester United prepare for Project Restart and look to gain the points to get them back into the Champions League, the fact that they’ll be playing their next few home league games behind closed doors has dealt them a bitter financial blow, which could have repercussions.
The true cost of the coronavirus pandemic to clubs probably won’t be known for a while yet, however, the metrics for this season have already shown that the Red Devils will likely lose more than any other Premier League club in 2019/20.
The Daily Star note that United’s accounts for the 2018/19 season – the latest ones published – show that they had a turnover of £627.10m.
Of that figure, 18 per cent – or a total of £110.82m – came from match day revenue of ticket sales and visiting supporters to Old Trafford.
Given that they had played 26 home games in 2018/19, an average of £4.26m would’ve been theoretically earned in each one.
With four home games remaining in 2019/20, and working on the same figures as last season, United could now lose £17.05m of potential match day revenue.
The Daily Star place the Red Devils at the top of the loss list, ahead of Tottenham Hotspur’s predicted £15.71m and Liverpool’s £12.96m.
An immediate issue related to finances could be United’s ability to remain competitive in the transfer market, but there are likely to be more wide-reaching issues that will come to the fore in due course.