Logo
Football
Written by

Alla Zakarian

28-06-2019 | 19:11 Football
208 Views

Financial expert explains how Liverpool are closing gap on Manchester United

Liverpool’s on-field success is giving them a serious boost off the pitch that is according to leading football finance expert Kieran Maguire. The Reds won the sixth Champions League trophy in their history and finished second in the Premier League with one point gap. Jurgen Klopp’s side have had to play second fiddle to arch-rivals Manchester United in a financial sense in recent years, with their record turnover of  £455m for the 2017/18 season still falling £135m short of their neighbours. Maguire has discussed how their season could see them close the financial gap to United through a combination of factors. “I think they can certainly narrow it,” said Maguire, speaking on a special Blood Red podcast . “If you look at the most recent results, for 2018, Liverpool were £135m behind Manchester United, and that’s a pretty big gap to narrow, but the success that Liverpool have had this season will probably have knocked off about £40-50m off that, there will have been bonuses paid by Standard Chartered and Western Union, who are the senior partners in terms of shirt sponsorship, so that will have kicked in as well. “But I think the areas which Liverpool very much had to address the gap between themselves and United were first of all matchday income, and by getting to the Champions League final, it means Liverpool played more matches than Manchester United at home, so therefore they would have been picking up gate receipts with increased frequency, and they would have been able to charge premium prices, especially the knockout rounds, to hospitality partners, so that would have benefitted. But Liverpool had already managed to reduce the gap as a result of expanding of the main stand, and they could narrow that further if they decide to go to a 60,000-capacity stadium “The other area, generating commercial income, is the one where Manchester United were the smartest kids on the block. The approach they took was to go to individual countries and say, ‘would you like to be our official supplier of mobile phones in Thailand, in Indonesia, and then in Japan’, and Liverpool have started to copy that model. But what Liverpool can offer partners, and what Manchester United can’t, is to be able to say, ‘by the way, do you want your photo taken with the Champions League trophy this season?’ Which is very, very attractive. “It has also been discussed in the Echo and in other media outlets that the club’s shirt manufacturing deal is due for renewal in 12 months. They’ll be negotiating on that and I think Liverpool will be able to effectively reduce the gap to either a negligible amount, nothing at all, or perhaps even nip in ahead of United. United generate £75m a season from Adidas, but because Liverpool have got the history and the heritage, and the six European Cup to offer, they are in a position to be able to sell shirts around the world, in a similar way to United. “United are a global brand and a global club and Liverpool are very much there with them these days as a result of the achievements under Jurgen Klopp and, of course, the history and heritage that came before that.”

Cristiano Ronaldo accused of failing to help terminally ill ex-professional Fernando Ricksen

Related News

Standings

England, Premier League