Manchester United’s new sponsors Aon have agreed to pay £80 million over four years making it one of the most lucrative shirt sponsors in history. This new shirt sponsorship has recently been tied with Liverpool’s new shirt sponsorship ending their almost 20 year sponsorship with Carlsberg. The money and talent coming into Manchester United is one of the reasons the team was named the most valuable club in the world by Forbes.com with a team value of $1.835 Billion. Real Madrid are second with a value of $1.323 Billion…that’s a staggering $500 Million difference between the two clubs. Manchester United has marketed their team really well over the past few years by traveling to the Far East, tapping into a huge market that few have taken advantage of. Manchester United’s back to back Champions League Finals appearances also adds to their growing popularity which has lead to their $459 Million Revenue.

Sir Alex Ferguson has undoubtedly played a key role in United’s establishment as the dominating force in the Premier League winning the Premier League 11 times in the last 17 seasons. He also managed to make three Champions League final appearances within the last 10 years winning two of the three. He also developed some of the best players in the world through his youth academy with the likes of Ryan Giggs, Paul Scholes, Gary Neville and most notably David Beckham. He has been able to win countless trophies joining the elite in 1999 by winning the Treble (FA Cup, Champions League and League). The club has also benefited financially from players like these through jersey sales and in one situation the sale of the players themselves. He’s also brought in young players for a relatively small price and allowed them to grow and develop into the world’s best players allowing the club to tap into the wealth of some other teams with deeper pockets. An example of this is the sale of Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid last summer for a record £80 Million and even with the loss of the Portuguese star the team has still been able to succeed.

We can continue talking about the club’s influential figures from coaches to players but one thing that all fans dream about is watching their favorite team play in the Theater of Dreams. With a capacity of 76,000 Old Trafford is the envy of all Premier League Teams. Whether its the atmosphere created by the sheer number of fans or the money coming in from all ticket sales the name ‘Theater of Dreams’ manifests itself in many ways.

With all the assets that this club has how is it possible for a club with such revenue to be in debt for about £800 Million? The answer lies in the clubs American owners, the Glazer family, who are also owners of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. In 2003 Malcolm Glazer increased his shareholding from around 3% to 15% and eventually pushed to a complete takeover of the club a few years later. He was able to do so by buying more shares of the club which were paid for by taking out loans. The loans have been refinanced several times in attempt to reduce interest payments and just this year they issued £500 million bond to remove some of the outstanding debt leaving the club in a £700 million hole with £45 million in annual interest. This financial burden that the clubs owners are faced with has caused fans all over to become upset especially since they’ve been noticing ticket prices skyrocket over the past few years since the Glazer takeover. Many United fans are trying to find a way to return ownership of the club to the supporters, a plan of a £1 billion takeover is in the air at the moment as well as a plan to boycott season tickets in an attempt to drive the Glazers out of Old Trafford. It will be interesting to see how the situation plays out over the next year or so as fans continually show their support by wearing the green and gold scarves. Will the American’s and their debt hold on to the most valuable club in the world or can the loyal fans impose their will and save their club from their debt ridden foes. Be sure to follow us here, twitter and facebook to see how this battle between fans and owners is decided.

-Ahmed Ahmed