Man United’s Top Priority Is Winning Trophies – Ed Woodward

Manchester United Executive Vice-chairman, Ed Woodward has disclosed that the club's top priority is to win trophies and succeed on the field.

Ezenwoko's Blog reports that Woodward made this known on Wednesday following the release of the club's latest financial results.

He submitted that the United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, the players and everyone at the club are determined to ensure that the club wins more trophies.

He said: “While these financial results today demonstrate our resilience through the pandemic, our top priority is success on the pitch.

“The manager, players and everyone at the club are determined to achieve that objective.”

Woodward pointed out that figures for the first quarter of the 2021-22 financial year show a rise of £16.6m in “employee benefit expenses” compared to the corresponding period of the previous year.

He said the total amount spent on salaries during the quarter ended September 30, when the club re-signed Ronaldo and also brought in Raphael Varane and Jadon Sancho, was £88.5m.

Woodward stated that this rise was offset by £17.4m brought in through player sales, principally Dan James' move to Leeds, although the club did also earn a sell-on fee from Romelu Lukaku's transfer from Inter Milan to Chelsea.

He said overall, total revenue increased by 16.1 per cent to £126.5m, explained largely by the obvious increase in matchday income that came with the return of fans to games after coronavirus restrictions were lifted.

According to Woodward, matchday revenue was £18.8m compared to just £1.7m the previous year, when games were played behind closed doors.

He said that this rise helped operating losses decrease from £27.1m to £10.2m compared to 2020-21.

The United official said commercial revenues rose by 7.9 per cent to £64.4m, adding that this has been driven by the arrival of Ronaldo, although the Portuguese was only back at the club for the final month of the quarter.

Woodward said the club's net debt stood at £439.7m on September 30, down slightly from £440.6m the previous year.