Manchester United Financial Result 2020 executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward has said the club is needing to”carefully manage funds” due to the continuing coronavirus pandemic since the club’s newest financial results showed net debt has increased by 133 percent to £474.1 million. In addition to the huge increase in debt, United’s fourth quarter and full financial year outcomes also revealed a revenue drop of 19 percent to £509m plus a reduction of £23.2m compared to some £18.9m gain produced last year — most largely because of the effect of COVID-19.
“Our focus remains on protecting the health of our colleagues, lovers, and community when adapting to the substantial economic ramifications of the pandemic,” Woodward said. “Within that context, our top priority is to urge fans back within the scene safely and as soon as possible. “We also are committed to playing a constructive role in helping the broader football pyramid through this era of adversity, while researching options for creating English game stronger and more sustainable within the future.
“This necessitates strategic vision and leadership from all stakeholders, and that we anticipate to helping drive forward that procedure in a timely way.”On the pitch, we’ve strengthened the team on the summer, and that we remain dedicated to our objective of winning prizes, twiddling with entertaining, attacking football with a mixture of academy graduates and high tech recruits, while closely managing our tools to protect the long-term durability of their team.”Regardless of the financial pressures of the outbreak, Woodward pointed to the signings of both Donny van de Beek and Alex Telles as proof that investment in the squad will last.”
United have suffered an inconsistent start to the new season which has included home league beats to Crystal Palace and Tottenham in addition to an impressive 2-1 victory at Paris Saint-Germain to kick off their Champions League campaign and Woodward insists director Ole Gunnar Solskjaer keeps the backing on the plank.”We’ll never be fulfilled at Manchester United unless we’re winning prizes,” Woodward said. “But our finish within the Premier League and a powerful cup run last year demonstrated that, despite the very fact that there’s far more diligence ahead and therefore the route isn’t necessarily smooth, we’re making progress.
“We have a very clear strategy beneath Ole to build a successful, committed team, using a heart of home-grown talent combined with high-quality recruits, that plays quickly flowing, attacking soccer. While our commitment to investment stays, it must be balanced with all this extraordinarily challenging environment facing all soccer clubs at this moment. The bottom line is we’re investing and will continue to spend to back the manager.”
United and Woodward have faced criticism for their summertime business — especially for missing out on top target Jadon Sancho. Much of the fans’ unhappiness has been framed against Chelsea’s outlay of over £200m this summer, however, Woodward was keen to play down the contrast whilst insisting United’s investment in new gamers matches that of their rivals from the Premier League and across Europe.
“There were only one or two outliers, most especially Chelsea, who had been making up for not being able to be active throughout their transport ban in summertime 2019,” Woodward added.” But one wants to look across multiple windows to gain a clearer view; and as I mentioned earlier our aggregate net investment over the last three transfer windows compares very favorably with our coworkers.”