When Football Clubs stop prioritizing Football

Manchester United: Crown of England, historical titans, theater of dreams. Also added to that list: sporadic performances, helpless manager, forever languishing outside of the top four. 

It’s no secret that Manchester United has not reached the same peaks after the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson. Since the great ‘Fergie’ departed Old Trafford over a decade ago in 2013, the great Manchester United has won only four trophies: one FA Cup, one Europa League trophy, and two League Cups. Not exactly silverware to set the world on fire. 

Now, quick question. Where do you think United ranks on the list of teams with the highest revenue? Don't look. 

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Manchester United came in fourth in the world for 2023’s highest earning clubs. The team that couldn’t even make it into the Champions League, Europe’s premiere knockout competition, did make it into a kind of top four in 2023. 

Which begs the question: is Manchester United more focused on making their profit margins ever bigger, as opposed to concentrating on their football? Why doesn’t United's failures on the pitch equate to failures in the financial market? What's going on?

To say that Manchester United’s players, coaches, and backroom staff are solely committed to making a profit would be an exaggeration to end all exaggerations. It’s their job to challenge for records and silverware. However, that doesn’t mean that the club’s owners see it the same way. For these fat cats, doing the bare minimum — qualifying for the Champions League, not winning it — is enough.

The Glazer family, part owners of Manchester United.

Consider this: according to AS, each team that qualifies for the Champions League group stages will receive fifteen and-a-half million Euros, or about seventeen million U.S. dollars. That's serious money for ninety-nine percent of Europe’s clubs, but for the big boys like Manchester United, that’s pocket change. The real money is made in broadcasting revenue. For example, Paris Saint-Germain made ninety-nine million euros, or about one-hundred and seven million dollars alone from television revenue in the Champions League. 

To understand why owners care so much about the bottom line, you have to understand how owners usually run football clubs. Most owners put their own money into the club, in the hopes that the club will turn a profit by the end of the year, therefore making their investment successful. Whatever grows their investment — even if it doesn’t involve winning a title — is good for them.

In 2003, Premier League owners found that desired investment: the Asian market. With a population of 4.5 billion people, well over half of the world’s population, the Premier League realized that it had some serious untapped potential.

It’s no wonder — the fan base in Asia is arguably just as devoted to European clubs as the European fan base is. Asia loves European football, and there’s no doubt that European owners love them back, for the money that they make off of them.

In fact, ever since 2022, the English first division has generated more money from overseas viewership revenue than from United Kingdom broadcast viewership earnings. The amount of total money generated is projected to be around $7.2 billion dollars, according to The Associated Press. With such an incentive to appeal to fans overseas, its no wonder that clubs have now begun to prioritize pre-season tours of Asia.

Liverpool players visibly tired after an Asian tour warm-up.

And prioritize they do. Overseas tours are jam-packed with games, which can cause fatigue for players. Add to that the constant traveling around from country to country, covering long distances in short amounts of time, and you get one poisonous chalice of irritation and burnout.

Don't believe me? Take it from Lionel Messi. The Argentinian legend would logically have the highest tolerance for long distance flights and pointless tours, but even he has his limits. When asked about Inter Miami’s pre-season tour, he had this to say. 

“I’m a little tired from this whole tour, [I have] a desire to finish up the last game and to return home. We have been on this tour that has had many games congested together, a lot of travel, a lot of changes of time zones.”

Along with pre-season tours, some club owners have realized that they can generate even more money by buying big named players, selling shirts and stadiums in the process. Big name player doesn’t fit into the club's style of play? Who cares! All that matters to these owners is that John bought his son a 125 dollar kit, with some bigshots’ name on the back, in the club’s gift shop after the match. 

We’ve seen time and time again that these lavish purchases usually don't work out in the end. Look no further than 2021 PSG, with the failed ‘MNM’ trio of Messi, Neymar, and Mbappe; the Real Madrid Galacticos era, where the club failed to win any trophy of note; or the Mourinho Manchester United era, spending hundreds of millions on Pogba and Zlatan, just to play in the Europa League. Hell, even I covered Barcelona’s reckless spending on Ousmane Dembele, Philippe Coutinho, and Antoine Griezmann, all who were Barcelona flops. 

I could honestly go on and on about owners wrecking the identities of clubs just for the prospect of profit. I haven’t even mentioned the recent Super League scandal, where Europe's biggest clubs almost double-crossed UEFA in starting their own tournament format, only for fans, pundits, and players making their concerns heard, essentially stopping the formation of a football-based oligarchy.

Florentino Perez (center), guilty of all three cardinal sins: pointless Asian tours, lavish transfer spending, and supporter of the Super League.

It is fascinating yet horrifying to see these monstrous clubs of the game, many over a century old, being turned into cash cows for already wealthy investors. Investors who put the well-being of players, the reputation of the club, and the loyalty of the fans aside, just for a numerical statistic at the end of a quarter. Owners whose principles are so backwards that they mar the very notion of a “peoples club”. This is happening to every club, on some scale. If it hasn’t already yet happened to yours, well, then I've got some bad news for you.