Manchester United earn place in financial super league

Manchester United have confirmed their position in the big league of world football by unveiling results ahead of City expectations.

Annual turnover rose by 12% to a record £129.6m, while pre-tax profits moved ahead 30% to £21.8m.

The club has confirmed it has already drawn up a shortlist to succeed team manager Sir Alex Ferguson, who steered United to their sixth Premiership title in eight years last season, when he steps down in May.

Nigel Hawkins, football analyst at Williams de Broe, believes the club's financial success also brings the prospect of a European super league closer, saying: "As far as the Premier League is concerned, it is getting more and more unbalanced."

Referring to Sir Alex, Mr Hawkins says: "There's going to be tremendous pressure on whoever takes over to keep up standards on the field."

The price of success is demonstrated by the £19.2m United made by reaching the quarter-finals of the Uefa Champions' League last season, representing 60% of the club's operating profit.

United's staff costs, which include players' wages, rose by £5.2m to £50m. Major signings such as Ruud van Nistelrooy, Juan Sebastian Veron and goalkeeper Roy Carroll also took net transfer expenditure to £46.8m, from £13.6m last year.

The club, which claims to have 50 million fans worldwide, has already announced a strategic alliance with Nike worth £303m. It has also reached agreement with Bank of Scotland and Zurich Financial Services to market a range of products under the MU Finance brand.

The driving force for the latest rise in turnover came from higher gate receipts - up from £36.6m to £46.2m - after capacity at Old Trafford was increased to 67,700.

Sponsorship generated £22.5m, up from £18.5m last time; income from television was slightly up at £31.2m; but merchandising fell to £21.9m, from £23.6m, because of reduced sales from the domestic wholesale market.