'Mainoo stance is flawed and could be seen as a failure of the football club'

WHILE United's summer spending spree may have hinted that the open chequebook policy has returned to Old Trafford, the reality is that it hasn't - and some painful decisions will need to be made to balance the books.

- By DAVE POWALL

United, when considering the Premier League’s profit and sustainability rules (PSR), are within the limits, and they actually have some room to spend, but that comes with still being a huge cash generating business with global appeal.

United remains one of the world’s biggest sporting teams, not just football teams, sporting teams. They rank alongside the New York Yankees, the Dallas Cowboys, Real Madrid and the Los Angeles Lakers when it comes to size and scale, dwarfing some of those in terms of actual revenue.

The club is still very much big business. They are a global brand that has fans that run deep into the hundreds of millions.

That means that there is always cash coming into the business and, even with some fallow years in terms of competitive success, as long as they remain PSR compliant, which they have been, with accounts submitted being for Red Football Limited as opposed to Manchester United Plc, then they can spend. The Red Football Limited accounts strip out some of the costs associated with the Plc, and that has allowed for a little more freedom.