A record £677.6m of revenue but a seventh straight loss, a co-owner's legal dispute, a new goalkeeping coach and a fan campaign against sponsors: the off-pitch picture explained.
Matches decide the season, but the decisions that shape United's future are made away from the pitch. In the space of a few weeks the club has reported record revenue and a seventh consecutive loss, one of its co-owners has been in the headlines over a legal dispute, a new coach has joined Michael Carrick's staff, and a group of supporters has launched an online campaign against the club's sponsors. This piece connects the dots.
The money: record income, bigger loss
United's results for the year to 30 June 2026, reported by The Guardian and the Manchester Evening News, make a curious pair of headlines.
- Revenue: a record £677.6m, up 1.7%.
- Operating profit: £22.6m.
- Net loss: £43m, up from £33m the year before, the seventh straight annual loss. The Guardian says compensation paid to sacked manager Ruben Amorim contributed. Total losses since 2019 reach £444m.
- Wage bill: £301m, down £11.3m (3.6%) and, according to The Guardian, more than £100m below Manchester City's.
The reason a profit from running the club becomes a loss is borrowing. Net finance costs more than tripled to £69.2m from £21.2m, partly because of currency movements and a refinancing. United sources told The Guardian that the refinancing helped fund a £63.5m purchase of land next to Old Trafford, linked to the plan for a 100,000-capacity stadium that could cost well over £2bn. Overall debt now stands at about £1.15bn.
The summer spending question
The club said it committed £155m to new players in the summer, including add-ons, but stock-exchange filings the next day put the figure at £191.7m. The Manchester Evening News explains that much of the £36.7m difference is agents' fees, the Premier League's 4% levy on transfers and the cost of academy signings. Our transfer round-up lists the main deals. Chief executive Omar Berrada told investors the window was planned "with financial sustainability in mind", a signal that Carrick's resources will stay tight.
One quirk from results day: United started selling 7cm by 7cm cubes of the old Old Trafford pitch for £125 each. The pitch was dug up and relaid this summer for the first time in 14 years. The club did something similar before, selling a paperweight of turf from the previous 11 years for £45 in 1999.
The owners
Sir Jim Ratcliffe's Ineos holds a minority stake in the club and has run football operations since 2023. The Manchester Evening News reports that he is in settlement talks with sailor Sir Ben Ainslie over a legal dispute worth around £180m, over the Britannia yacht the two launched together in 2024. Ineos sued Ainslie's Athena Racing team in March over its continued use of the boat, after saying in January it would no longer fund the team's America's Cup challenge. Ainslie told The Telegraph that he is "confident we'll be able to find a way to resolve this before it goes to court", and the earliest date for a full trial is not expected until November 2027.
The case is separate from United's own affairs, but it is a reminder that the club's co-owner has other high-profile commitments, and that his business interests overlap with football. The Telegraph reports that United are due to play a closed-door friendly against Lausanne-Sport, another club Ratcliffe owns.
The people around Carrick
United have appointed Connor King as assistant first-team goalkeeping coach. He arrives from Burnley, where he held several coaching roles from 2018 after joining that club's academy at 11 and being capped by England at Under-16 level before ending his playing career early. He joins lead goalkeeper coach Craig Mawson, the only senior coach Carrick kept after Amorim left. The full group is Steve Holland (assistant manager), Jonathan Woodgate, Jonny Evans and Travis Binnion (first-team coaches), Mawson and King. With four goalkeepers on the books, including Senne Lammens, Karl Darlow, Tom Heaton and Dermot Mee, the extra pair of hands makes sense.
The fans
A group of supporter accounts launched a #BoycottUnited campaign on 22 September, asking fans to leave negative reviews for the club's commercial partners, email press offices and comment on social-media posts. The Manchester Evening News reports that Snapdragon, the Qualcomm brand that has sponsored the front of the shirt since 2024/25 in a deal understood to be worth around £60m a year, has been particularly targeted. Organisers say they turned online because some supporters feel match-day protests do not work. Fans have protested against the Glazer family since 2005, and the MEN says Ratcliffe has become a target over the last 18 months. Manchester World reports on fan activity without taking sides.
How the threads connect
A tight budget, a heavy debt load, a stadium dream, owners with outside interests and restless supporters all feed into the same question: can United compete on the pitch while the finances are being repaired? For Carrick, that means developing young players (see our academy guide) and getting results with a squad that is already short of players (see our break report). We will keep tracking each thread as the season goes on.
Reporting used
This piece is our own analysis, built from the following reporting and our own results and table data. We link to the original stories so you can read them in full.
- Manchester Evening News: Man Utd: Fans launch #BoycottUnited online campaign aimed at club sponsors
- Manchester Evening News: Man Utd: Carrick to use behind-closed-doors friendly with Lausanne-Sport to reset United's season
- The Guardian: United post seventh straight annual loss despite record revenue: the numbers explained
- Manchester Evening News: Man Utd: Sir Jim Ratcliffe in talks to settle £180m dispute with Sir Ben Ainslie
- Manchester Evening News: Man Utd: Connor King appointed assistant goalkeeping coach: Carrick's backroom team explained