Man Utd Parent Firm post Losses

The parent company that owns Manchester United has announced a loss of £108.9 million for last year.Red Football Joint Venture - owned by the Glazer family - revealed the figure for the year ending June 30, 2010 in their accounts, which also include a number of one-off payments, according to files submitted to Companies House. One of those was the cost of setting up a £526 million bond scheme to provide the American owners with cash in the short-term to service a number of outstanding debts.

While the previous year's results revealed a profit of £21 million, payment in kind (PIK) loans that have since been paid off were also a contributing cause for the downturn in fortunes. A lack of notable player sales has also been blamed - in 2010 the club could include the £80 million departure of Cristiano Ronaldo as part of their trading.United's own club accounts were published in October and revealed losses of £83.6 million. At the time chief executive David Gill remained upbeat about financial matters at Old Trafford.

"We have money in the bank so there is zero pressure on that, no pressure at all to sell any star player," Gill said at the time. "We have £165 million in the bank but in some ways we would prefer to have £80 million in the bank and Ronaldo on the pitch."Sir Alex Ferguson could be set to rebuild his side in the summer, with Manuel Neuer, David de Gea, Javier Pastore and Jack Rodwell all linked with the club in recent weeks. And, even in light of the financial news, Ferguson has been assured he will have money to spend.

A source told ESPNsoccernet: "There have been suggestions that the club are financially handicapped in some way with the latest accounts of the club's parent company showing more than a £100 million loss for the year, but they are exceptional circumstances."There is £165 million cash in the bank, and even as we stand the club would pass UEFA's fair financial play rules. No one is saying Sir Alex is going to spend all the cash in the bank, but he is going to replace a number of star players, and that is not going to come cheap. If he wishes to spend £100 million the funds are in place for him to do so.

As for the club's finances, Manchester United are on course to break the £100 million commercial profits barrier for the year. The club is best judged financially from the last quarterly accounts of the club, which showed the debt in the region of £500 million, interest repayments of £45 million but £100 million profits in a year."