Key Points
- Manchester United posted £37.7M nine-month operating profit, swinging from £3.2M loss
- Results absorb £16.7M exceptional charge from firing head coach Rúben Amorim
- Revenue rose to £520M from £502M; EBITDA climbed to £187.5M from £145.3M
Manchester United reported a nine-month operating profit of £37.7 million ($52.2 million) for fiscal year 2026 to date, the club announced Wednesday — a swing from a £3.2 million ($4.3 million) loss in the comparable prior-year period. The headline number absorbs a £16.7 million ($22.4 million) exceptional charge tied to the January firing of head coach Rúben Amorim, who was dismissed with 18 months left on his contract. EBITDA climbed to £187.5 million, from £145.3 million.
Where the revenue came from
Revenue across the first nine months rose to £520 million from £502 million in the prior-year period — modest growth, but notable because United did not play in any European competition this season after finishing 15th in the Premier League last year. Match-day, commercial, and broadcast revenue all held up despite the missing European inventory, with the club leaning on its commercial book (sponsorships, retail, kit) to make up the gap.
The Carrick swing
Michael Carrick, who took over from Amorim in January, has been the on-pitch driver of the financial turnaround. Under Carrick, United finished third in the Premier League and qualified for the 2026-27 UEFA Champions League — restoring the European matchday and broadcast revenue stream that the 2025-26 fiscal year did without. The Champions League revenue impact does not show up in these nine-month results but is the largest single tailwind for fiscal 2027.
What the Amorim charge says
The £16.7 million severance is roughly the cost of two top-of-market manager appointments at the club's recent rate, and it reflects a 2024-25 hiring decision that the board has now closed out with a writedown. United paying £16.7 million to end an experiment after one full season — and still posting a profitable nine months — is the structural argument the Glazer ownership has been making for years: the commercial machine absorbs operational error in a way few other Premier League clubs can. The question for next year is whether Carrick's results were a Carrick effect or a regression-to-the-mean effect after the Amorim system collapsed.
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