The world "may be ending" but ManU fans will still be able to see it from a ManU perspective, according to David McWilliams of the Irish INDEPENDENT. The "one thing I like about Manchester United fans is their obsessively narrow focus." If Man City is "financed by oil-rich Arabs, what happens" to Aguero, Kompany, Toure and co. if the Arabs "run out of brass?" Think "about the finances of the Premiership, the economics of English football and in particular the business model of the two big Manchester teams." It is clear that ManU has "a much more robust model, much greater fan base and are a much more secure club, financially." Man City's model is "based on Arab money (and maybe now Chinese) but the Arab money is significant and it is related ultimately to the price of oil." Just "look at the collapse in the price of oil since Sheikh Mansour bought the club in 2008 when it was over" $140 a barrel. Oil "then collapsed but it recovered quickly and the oil price has been over" $100 a barrel "for most of the time there's been Arab ownership of City." This "allowed City to outspend their rivals." Over the past five years, Man City has spent a net £740M ($1.07B) "on players." This "compares with Chelsea who forked out" £670M ($967M) and ManU, a "distant third, who splashed out" a net £450M ($650M) on players. This "has bought some success to City but not nearly enough." When you compare Man City's business model to ManU's, "the precarious nature of City's finances becomes apparent." Let's "look at United." Under the broad heading of "commercial," according to the ManU website, "the revenue is generated by three sub headings." The first is "massive sponsorship" whereby ManU made £154.8M for the year ended June 30. The "other major area is of course shirts." In total, the club made £31.6M "from merchandising last year." It "also makes a chunk from mobile and content revenue:" £10.4M in '15. The "next big area is broadcasting via centrally-negotiated domestic and international television and radio rights to the Premier League, the Champions League and other competitions." When "it comes to shirts, United sells 20 times more shirts worldwide than City." And when "we drill a bit deeper in City's finances, we see a worrying picture of shaky financial foundations." Despite '14-15 being the seventh consecutive year of increased revenues, "City only made a small" £10.7M profit. And, this "was the first time" since the acquisition of the club by the Abu Dhabi United Group for Development and Investment in '08 "that the club has made any profit." Sheikh Mansour has put almost £1B ($1.4B) into Man City "since his 2008 takeover." Since he bought the club, "his total losses are in the region" of £560M ($808M). Thus, when seen from a ManU perspective, "the crisis in the Middle East, global deflation, the Chinese slump and the collapse in the price of oil, can only be a good thing" (INDEPENDENT, 1/13).
