MU’s Debts Now £716.5 Million

Shocking news came from what should be the world’s biggest football team. Manchester United has officially announced that they have to deal with £716.5 million of debts and interest carefully in order to survive. After the recent rumors of the team selling their Old Trafford Stadium, this recent announcement is definitely worse than expected.

The reason for MU’s increasing debts is the raise of interest rates and other costs. The team’s management has to cope with interest rate increase from 14.25% to 16.25%; MU spent more than £68 million repaying interest alone last year, and the burden will be much heavier after the 2% increase.

Sir Alex Ferguson had stated that Manchester United is not affected in any way — especially when it comes to purchasing and maintaining their best players — by the increasing amount of debt. Still, both the public and the media are not entirely convinced with Sir Alex’s statement, especially after seeing the £80 million Manchester United received after selling Cristiano Ronaldo to Real Madrid being allocated for other posts; only less than a quarter of the money were used to shop for new players.

Sir Alex did purchased Antonio Valencia and Gabriel Obertan earlier this season, while Michael Owen was acquired for free from Newcastle United. The sale of CR7 to Real Madrid also brought Manchester United’s 2009 financial report to a cool £6.4 million closing profit; the 2008 was a lot worse, showing £42.7 million in financial losses alone. Will Manchester United solve their problems?