Champs United Dh3.5bn in debt

Manchester United post the biggest profits for any British football club - while at the same time being part of its biggest debt.

Manchester United have posted the biggest profits for any British football club - while at the same time being part of its biggest debt. Accounts to June 2008 reveal turnover at the club has risen 22 per cent to £256.2million (Dh1.4bn), underpinning a 7.5 per cent increase in profits to £80.4million. However, Red Football - the umbrella for United and their various offshoots - confirmed a loss of £44.8m, taking their overall debt to an eye-watering £649.4m (Dh3.5bn).

Critics are bound to pounce on the figure as evidence of an unsustainable financial structure, questioning how it is possible for the Glazer family to make a profit if their losses are so high in a season as successful as the last one, where they won the Premier League and Champions League. Yet Manchester United's owners have never given any impression of being too concerned about the debt mountain itself, the payments for which were restructured two years ago and currently takes £45.5m annually out of United's profits.

Instead they prefer to maintain a drive for profits at a club whose overall value is estimated at more than £1bn. United are already touting for new shirt sponsors after AIG confirmed they will not be extending an overall £18million annual deal when it expires next year. Another financial institution, Prudential, is the latest to confirm they are in talks, joining a group that also includes Saudi Telecom and Indian corporate giant Sahara.

Sponsorship deals with Saudi Telecom, Diageo, Budweiser and the Seoul Metropolitan Government have been struck. * With agencies