Comments on: Don’t Be Fooled by Man Utd’s Gross Profits

By: Jim Bisnett

Jim Bisnett — Sun, 18 May 2008 15:26:26 +0000

Sounds much like US major sports. The fans have to pay rather large sums to see a game. In fact, most low to mid income families cannot even afford to attend a game. The stadiums are financed by the municipalities in most cases, yet the fans pay for everything else.

By: Tom Dunmore

Tom Dunmore — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 16:23:18 +0000

Brian — the previous comment was a spam comment. I’m about to delete it but I’m posting this so your response at least makes some sense.

By: Brian

Brian — Sun, 13 Apr 2008 05:39:23 +0000

Nothing against the above comment, but as the Brian Phillips who writes for this site I’d just like to make clear that it wasn’t left by me. I’d agree that finance takes a backseat to competent ownership made up of people who don’t mortally despise one another. Then again, you can’t spell “competent ownership made up of people who don’t mortally despise one another” without “finance” (I checked).

By: JohnST

JohnST — Sat, 19 Jan 2008 05:48:43 +0000

The debts have hardly gone away and ticket prices are climbing. It is a shrewd move by the Glazers who bought the club and shifted the liabilities back to the fans.

They are servicing the interest payments comfortably now but if the club hits a sticky patch and lose out on the titles, the picture will not be so rosy. As far as I am concerned, It is still a shaky financial situation for me.

John
SoccerNet Live

By: ursus arctos

ursus arctos — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 09:13:14 +0000

My take is that the alternative analysis, while certainly a bit polemic, is also a more accurate description of what is actually going on than the Man Utd press release or (especially) the media spin of that release swallowed by credulous rubes like Bretos.

By: The Metrologist

The Metrologist — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 00:30:30 +0000

“Today Max Bretos on FSC’s Super Sunday Plus praised…”

If only there was a way to sell short anything that came after these words, I would be rich.

By: Thomas Dunmore

Thomas Dunmore — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 22:02:54 +0000

Ah, cheers. What’s your take on the alternative analysis, then? The part about the debt being moved out of the football club is intriguing, but understanding why they’d have done that is over my head.

By: ursus arctos

ursus arctos — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 21:58:27 +0000

Earnings Before Interest, Tax, Depreciation and Amortization.

It is a common measure used in getting a handle on how much debt an enterprise can service without getting into trouble (and EBITDA multiples are often used in valuing enterprises).

By: Thomas Dunmore

Thomas Dunmore — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:20:31 +0000

Thanks Ursus. What does “EBITDA” stand for? (As in, “rose 72% to £79.8m (2006 - £46.3m)”)

By: ursus arctos

ursus arctos — Mon, 14 Jan 2008 20:11:39 +0000

The Man Utd Supporters Trust has put up an alternative analysis of the figures that makes for an interesting counterpoint.

http://www.joinmust.org/forum/showthread.php?p=230566#post230566