Red Devils defy slump on pitch to claim top spot in money league

Manchester United's relative failure on the pitch has not been reflected off it as for the first time in over a decade it tops Deloitte's Football Money League for revenue in the 2015-16 season.

The Old Trafford club - which was last on top in 2003-04 - earned record revenues of 689 million euros ($736 million) and dislodged Champions League holder Real Madrid which ruled the roost for 11 straight years.

The Red Devils won the FA Cup last term but struggled badly in the Premier League and Champions League, leading to Dutch coach Louis van Gaal being fired.

The club's topping of the finance league is largely due to one thing, according to Deloitte senior consultant Tim Bridge.

"It is the commercial power of Manchester United that takes them to the top of the league," said Bridge.

Perhaps more galling for Real is that despite topping 600 million euros for the first time, it found itself edged into third by bitter rival Barcelona, which bettered it by just 100,000 euros - although the Catalan club has yet to top the standings.

The top trio also filled the first three positions when Deloitte's first published the league in the 1996-97 season, with United leading then at 80 million euros - around the amount it spent on Paul Pogba almost 20 years later.

United's reign could be short-lived as it failed to qualify for this season's Champions League, even when figures from the huge Premier League TV deal, which started last year, are taken into account, according to Bridge.

"The TV deal will counterbalance some of it but much depends on where United finishes in the league," said Bridge.

"The truth is it will be a three-way battle next year mainly because United are not in the Champions League and the impact of the exchange rate (1.33 euros to the British pound when Deloitte did the 2015-16 calculations as opposed to Wednesday's rate of 1.15) and weakening of the pound following the decision to leave the European Union.

"It will be challenging for them to stay on top next year."

German champion Bayern Munich and Manchester City fill out the top five, while French giant Paris Saint-Germain dropped to sixth.

City's appearance in the top five for the first time is on the back of reaching the Champions League semifinals.

Leicester breakthrough

In all, the top 20 clubs generated revenue of 7.4 billion euros, an increase of 12% over the previous year.

The English Premier League's commercial attractiveness compared to other European leagues is reflected with eight teams appearing in the top 20 - five in the top 10 - and generating total combined revenue of 3.2 billion euros.

Surprise champion Leicester breaks in for the first time and is 20th with revenue of 172.1 million euros while east London club West Ham also crept into the top 20 in 18th spot at 192.3 million euros.

However, thoughts of the EPL being an unstoppable force and all 20 clubs entering the top 30 next year should not be taken for granted, said Bridge.

"When the new TV deal was announced two years ago we might well have thought there would be more English clubs coming into the Money League for 2017-18," he said.

"But with the rise of their European competitors it might not be as great as one thought.

"It is a testament to European football generally and it has to be said clubs are now operating in a more financially sustainable manner.

"The introduction by UEFA of the European Fair Play system has seen a huge reduction in losses."

Meanwhile, the decline of Italy's Serie A continues. Although there are four teams in the top 20 - Juventus the highest at 10th - Deloitte thinks there is a real danger Italy could have just one representative next year.

"I think it certainly reflects the situation in Serie A," Bridge said.

"AC Milan was firmly in the top five in 2002-03, so their decline (it is now 16th, below archrival Roma) has been relatively steady over the past 13 years.

"It reflects the inability to generate new revenues in Italy both commercially and matchday, antiquated stadia being one of the issues.

"Inter Milan (19th) are almost certainly going to drop out and there is a real danger the same can happen to AS Roma and AC Milan."