Today is Ed Woodward conference call day.
Four times a year, Woodward takes a phone call with United's various investors across the world, and today he announced record revenues of £515.3 million for the 2016 financial year.
United are the first Premier League club to break the £500 million mark in terms of revenue, with only Barcelona ahead of them (on £570 million).
The biggest boom here is in the commercial sector: United recorded a whopping 36.3% increase to £268.3 million. So the next time you scoff at Ed Woodward's next 'Official Noodle Partner' deal, remember that it is paying for his lobster.
To put those commercial figures into context:
That commercial figure alone would have put @ManUtd 12th in the Deloitte Rich List, ahead of both Milan clubs, Roma and Atletico Madrid.
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) September 12, 2016
Woodward spoke of United's success since the last call, namely winning the FA Cup, appointing Jose Mourinho, and tying up another 13 commercial deals.
Ed W: "JM needs no detailed introduction.His arrival marks our intention to return to the club to pinaccle of our sport."
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) September 12, 2016
While presenting his and the club's successes, Woodward contextualised how successful the signing of Pogba has proved to be. Pogba was played out of position and made zero impact against City at the weekend, once he is accommodated by Mourinho he will surely start scoring goals and help United win trophies. This is not the metric by which Woodward measures success, however:
Ed W: "Pogba was biggest signing day post on Facebook in history, more than Bale and Neymar combined."
— Simon Stone (@sistoney67) September 12, 2016
With Woodward at the helm, United have become a content producing machine as much as they have a football club, with this line from Woodward confirming what we knew when the club painted a young mascot blue to promote an X-Men film last May. They also subjected the world to this hideous bit of native advertising for the sequel to Independence Day:
United v aliens – we know who we’re backing! #IndependenceDay https://t.co/nV5MVDpGn3
— Manchester United (@ManUtd) June 14, 2016
Elsewhere, United revealed £15.1 million worth of 'exceptional costs'. These are essentially to cover the cost of Louis Van Gaal's less than exceptional reign. Van Gaal's pay-off was worth £8.4 million, while the remaining £6.7 million is essentially used to write-off the rest of Bastian Schweinsteiger's Man United career. Here is the chilling corporate speak for 'the manager doesn't fancy you':
£6.7m related to a registrations’ impairment charge regarding a reduction in the carrying value of a player no longer considered to be a member of the first team playing squad.
Ouch.
