Man U profits take a dive
MANCHESTER United paid out £6m to agents who acted as 'middle-men' in player transfer deals last year.
The club laid bare in unprecedented detail the huge sums paid to players' agents to negotiate moves between clubs.
Manchester United agreed to make public the amounts involved after its was criticised for the secretive way it uses agents in deals.
The company's financial results for last season reveal that £5.5m was paid to agents on purchases of 10 players and £500,000 for the sale of Nicky Butt.
The biggest fee was the £1.128m paid to the agent for the Portuguese star Cristiano Ronaldo and £1.202m for the Dutch striker Ruud Van Nistelrooy. The agents for forwards Louis Saha and Alan Smith were paid £750,000 each.
The company said it was 'setting a benchmark by providing full year basic disclosure of all player transfer activity and agent fees'.
The disclosure came as Manchester United announced a surprising fall in pre-tax profits and admitted failure in Europe last season will hit their financial performance significantly over the next 12 months.
Pre-tax profits fell from £39.3m to £27.9m and the club also showed a slight drop in turnover as income fell to £169m from £173m.
Chairman Sir Roy Gardner said warned that their disappointing season will have an impact on future profitability.
Finishing third in the Premiership last season, below champions Arsenal and Chelsea, meant a reduction in the amount of money they get from the Premier League and the Champions League.
Sir Roy said: 'Short-term results will be affected by a sharp drop in media revenues. Following the latest FA Premier League TV deals, revenue is expected to drop by around £8m this year ... and then stay flat over the following two years.
'Having finished third in the 2003-04 season, our media revenues from the Champions League will also reduce by approximately £6m.'
Chief executive David Gill said: 'We are determined for Manchester United to be the best on and off the field.
'Despite the expected fall in media revenues in this current year, our long-term strategic planning will ensure that we continue to grow as both a business and football club.
'Today we have also taken the initiative of providing a full and transparent disclosure of our player transfers and agents fees to demonstrate our confidence in our processes.'
