Man United second in rich list despite worst season for years

They may have endured their least successful season in a generation but that didn't prevent Manchester United moving up two places in football's rich list. Deloitte's annual 'loaded league' reveals that United climbed from fourth to second in 2013/14 despite the fact this was the season they were dumped out of the FA Cup by Swansea at the first hurdle, were well beaten by Bayern Munich in the quarter-final of the Champions League, finished seventh in the Premier League, their lowest position since 1990, and missed out on Europe for the first time in 24 years.

But despite the best efforts of David Moyes to drag Manchester United towards mediocrity, off the pitch the club is booming and only Real Madrid made more from the game in 2013-14.

The Spanish giants, who won the Champions League last season for the first time in 12 years, topped Deloitte's 18th annual football rich list for the tenth successive year with revenues of €549.5m (£421m). That figure is up €30.6m on the previous year, an increase that is down to improved broadcast and commercial revenues.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Sign up

United were the only other club to break the half-billion mark, their revenue for 2013/14 reaching €518m, considerably more than Bayern Munich's total of €487.5m (£373.3m). Barcelona were fourth among the moneyed movers and shakers, with French champions Paris Saint-Germain fifth.

After that come a posse of Premier League clubs: Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal and Liverpool filling places six to nine, having all enjoyed prosperous seasons. Tottenham are 13th and such is the financial clout of the Premier League that Newcastle United and Everton also make the top 20 at 19th and 20th respectively.

"The Premier League's new broadcast deals have translated into big revenue increases across the English top flight," explained Austin Houlihan, senior manager at Deloitte. "In fact, every Premier League club reported record revenues in 2013-14."

Houlihan added that between them, the eight English clubs in the top 20 achieved total broadcast revenues of €1.1bn (£840m), and the good news is that figure will only increase further in the seasons to come. "The fact that all the clubs in the Premier League are in the top 40 is testament to the huge appeal of the league globally and also the equality of the distributions the clubs enjoy relative to their European counterparts," said Houlihan. "Additionally, the Premier League is currently negotiating for the next cycle of media rights and further uplifts are anticipated."

So unprecedented is the prosperity of football in the 21st century that Deloittes reports the combined revenue for the 20 wealthiest clubs topped €6.2bn (£4.75bn) in 2013/14, an increase of 14 per cent on the previous year. "It is possible," stated Deloittes, "that the top five clubs in next year's edition could all generate in excess of half a billion euros."

DELOITTE FOOTBALL MONEY LEAGUE

1. Real Madrid: €549.5m

2. Man Utd: €518m

3. Bayern Munich: €487.5m

4. Barcelona: €484.6m

5. Paris Saint-Germain: €474.2m

6. Manchester City: €414.4m

7. Chelsea: €387.9m

8. Arsenal: €359.3m

9. Liverpool: €305.9m

10. Juventus: €279.4m