Manchester United have posted a seventh consecutive annual loss, reporting a net deficit of £43m for the year ended 30 June 2026 — wider than the £33m loss recorded a year earlier. The club’s results, published on Wednesday, show costs tied to player acquisitions and to the departure of head coach Ruben Amorim pushing United deeper into the red.
The Amorim exit carried a specific price. United booked an exceptional cost of £8.2m related to his departure as head coach and to restructuring. That figure is well below the exposure the club initially faced: the exit of the Portuguese coach and his staff was first recorded as an exceptional item costing £16.7m in third-quarter results published in May, a sum understood to have represented the maximum the club stood to lose. It has since been significantly reduced because Amorim has taken on the Milan job.
The widening loss came despite the cost-cutting drive led by Sir Jim Ratcliffe, the British billionaire who is the club’s minority shareholder and head of its football operations. His measures to revive profitability have included cutting jobs and raising ticket prices.
Revenue, however, reached a record £677.6m, an increase of 1.7%. Yet the results unsettled investors: United’s New York-listed shares, which have gained almost 24% this year, fell 3% in US premarket trading. The 20-times English champions have now accumulated losses of nearly £190m since fiscal 2024.
“We will continue to take a disciplined approach to ensure our finances remain sustainable,” the chief executive, Omar Berrada, said in a statement.
The club’s wage bill fell to £302m, down £11.3m or 3.6% on the previous year. United attributed the reduction to changes in the men’s first-team squad and to the headcount reduction programmes undertaken over the past two years.
United insiders regard the loss as evidence of the need to keep working hard on financial discipline.
There is a brighter forecast attached to the accounts. A late surge last season under the management of Michael Carrick helped the club finish third in the Premier League and secure a Champions League place. On the back of that, United forecast record revenue of between £740m and £760m for fiscal 2027.