It’s all very well fans demanding that Manchester United focus less on corporate business and marketing and more on football… But how else are they going to earn the money to keep pace with Manchester City and Liverpool?
When it comes to player recruitment and team-building, both of Man Utd’s premium rivals have left them for dust in recent times even though neither generate as much revenue.
It’s why they are slugging it out as the Premier Leagues top two while United are recovering from yet another seismic shock, the axing of manager Jose Mourinho.
So it’s clear that however much United earn, they now have to learn to spend it as smartly as their two major rivals in the north.
They now have to recruit the same kind of behind-the-scenes football brain-power that Man City and Liverpool can call upon. Otherwise, the next permanent boss will fail, too.
So much money has been wasted at Old Trafford.
But the fact remains that under the present ownership structure, United will have to use their commercial power to drive any long-term regeneration.
That means that the endlessly expanding use of United’s global brand power to generate sponsorship income will have to continue no matter how unpalatable the fans are beginning to find it.
After Mourinho’s grim exit, it is now executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward who is once again taking the flak for a third failed managerial appointment since the departure of Sir Alex Ferguson.
Any discomfort he may feel about that was surely eased when the club’s share price rose by five per cent in New York and added £120 million to its value in the immediate wake of Mourinho being sacked.
However, add up the money the club has spent on severance payments to David Moyes, Louis van Gaal and Mourinho together with more than £1billion taken out of the club by the Glazer family ownership in debt payments, dividends and the rest since 2005 and it would buy a squad to match the best.
The figure would come to something like the £1.3 billion spent on players by City’s Abu Dhabi ownership since their take-over in 2008.
Patently, City have been far better run in that time and it has brought them three league titles and made them favourites to win the Champions League this season.
Indeed, United have bought no fewer than three players for more than City spent on their record signing, the £60m, Rihyad Mahrez, and look where the purchases of Paul Pogba, Romelu Lukaku and Angel di Maria have got United?
The lessons off-the-field for United are two-fold as Mourinho departs with his associates making it plain he was unhappy with United’s transfer policy and dealings.
The first is that the solid back-room structure provided at City by the executive pair of Ferran Soriano and Txiki Begiristain have ensured that Abu Dhabi’s money has been spent wisely.
They have built a squad in which Pep Guardiola basically has two ideal players for every position and now United, finally, are hunting a Director of Football, too.
The second is that few of the major signings made at the Etihad have been made because the players involved will sell mega-loads of merchandise and create frenzies on Instagram.
Not all of City’s mega-signings are mega-stars on social media. But they do, however, slot perfectly into Guardiola’s way of playing.
True enough, Raheem Sterling, Sergio Aguero and David Silva have major world profiles. But every big side needs its stars. That trio are such big names because of what they do for the team.
The contrasting accusation aimed at Woodward is that he has sought players like Pogba and Alexis Sanchez primarily because they could add brand value to United’s commercial operation.
Certainly, it seems odd that a coach as hard-headed as Mourinho did not believe that Sanchez had been a big fish in a small pond at Arsenal but had been a fringe operator at Barcelona.
Meanwhile, Anfield’s Sporting Director, Michael Edwards, is being hailed as one of the smartest operators in the business following the arrivals of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and goalkeeper Allison, which have been transformative.
The purchase and lucrative sell-ons of Philippe Coutinho and earlier, Luis Suarez, have also helped fuel Liverpool’s big spending,
While they have nearly £400m since 2016, they have brought in £265m – a net lay-out of £125m.
That spells purpose, thought and policy of the kind woefully absent at Old Trafford.
Arsene Wenger is among those who have credited United for paying their own way.
It is clear, though, that United are going to have to spend big again to catch up with the rest of the elite.
If they don’t get wise and get in the right football man to work alongside the next boss then the brand value they have exploited so expansively will fade.
It won’t survive too many more years without the big prizes rolling in again.
