What was once seen as Manchester United's strength could end up being a weakness.
For years United were streets ahead of the rest of the Premier League when it came to driving forward commercial revenues, able to leverage their success under the stewardship of Sir Alex Ferguson to great effect at a time when English football's top tier had added the gloss through the formation of the Premier League and were appealing to not only a domestic audience but an international one.
It was United who really kicked off the overseas pre-season tours for major clubs, or at least they were the ones who truly harnessed the power of the club as a brand in emerging markets, and they were able to deliver value to partners around the world. Their commercial success was going hand in hand with success on the field, but when Ferguson retired at the end of the 2012/13 season it signalled the end of not only his era as manager, but the era of United being a dominant force in English football.
Since then they tried it all. David Moyes was Ferguson's hand-picked successor, while Louis van Gaal and Jose Mourinho were regarded as two of the finest managers the European game had seen, with CVs to match. When they didn't work the club looked to try and invoke some of the old United by hiring Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, despite a CV that did not really seem up to the task. It was another project doomed to fail, prompting them to move on to Ralf Rangnick to hold the fort and help them try to bring about cultural change at a football club that has become mired in mediocrity.
For the first time in Premier League history Manchester United are no longer the commercial powerhouse that needs to be kept pace with after Manchester City surpassed them with record revenues of almost £570m. Liverpool have closed the gap on United to such an extent that the old question of how they go about closing the gap between themselves and the Old Trafford outfit isn't the one that needs answering, it is about how they manage to keep pace with Manchester City.
United's next choice of manager will be vital. Names such as Mauricio Pochettino and Erik ten Hag have been mentioned. And former United boss Van Gaal had a word of warning should his compatriot Ten Hag be keen to switch from Ajax to take over at Old Trafford, his claims pulling the curtain back on a club whose former vice-chairman, Ed Woodward, once told investors that success on the pitch wasn't required for success off it.
The Dutch national team manager, speaking to reporters ahead of his team's game with Germany on Tuesday evening. said: "Erik ten Hag is a great coach and that is always good for Manchester United. But Manchester United are a commercial club, so it's a difficult choice for a coach. He'd better go to a football club.
"I'm not going to advise him, he'll call me himself. But he must choose a football club and not a commercial club."
His take on United's situation highlights one of the issues that has dogged them ever since Ferguson left. Woodward's theory that success wasn't needed to be commercially successful is starting to be tested, with United's lack of trophies and the distance that now exists between them and Liverpool and Manchester City more a gaping chasm. How long before the global strength of the brand wanes and sponsors' interest in paying the big money to be associated with them does to?
Focusing on the football has been part of growing the revenues at Liverpool. Under Fenway Sports Group, the club has managed to increase overall revenues from £184m in 2011 to a high watermark of £533m in 2019, a season before the pandemic where Liverpool won the Champions League. The impact of Covid has seen the Reds' revenues dip to £487m for the most recent 2021 set of accounts, but they have been robust in dealing with what coronavirus brought.
Since United last won the Premier League, Liverpool ended their 30-year wait for their first English league title, won the Champions League and have been beaten finalists, won the League Cup and also the FIFA Club World Cup. At present it is a straight two-horse race between them and Manchester City for the Premier League crown. They are also in the semi-finals of the FA Cup and the quarter finals of the Champions League.
When FSG arrived there was a move to invest and spend time in the footballing strategy at the club, where the focus would be on hiring the right people, using data analysis as an advantage, something that would form part of the DNA of the club and not be a token move, as well as signing the right profile of player for the right money. And that focus led them to also look for the right man to lead the football side of things to drive them forward to success, with Jurgen Klopp having long been the man FSG wanted at the helm before he took over in 2015. There was patience with Klopp, as there was patience with bringing about a new way of working at Liverpool.
"Our objectives are clear as to win. What we try to do is maximise performance as cost effectively as possible," said Dr Ian Graham, director of research at Liverpool, speaking at the Financial Times' Business of Football Summit.
"In terms of areas where the data team helps out, it is tactical, on-pitch performance about the performance of Liverpool players and our opponents game to game. We work closely with the Academy to provide data to help develop players as well as the fitness and medical departments. But really in terms of impact versus costs, recruitment and squad planning is where you can make the maximum impact. If you don't have the correct players in the squad that are able to challenge for Champions League places and to win competitions then you are severely limited.
"My first year at Liverpool in 2012, the first 12 months was exclusively built on recruitment applications. I told our owners it would take a year to build that stuff and they said 'fine'. That long-term planning and adoption of data was rare at football clubs at the time and luckily for me the owners saw the value in it and we have had some success with that approach.
"Liverpool is a lucky place to be. When I arrived there was very little in terms of anyone doing anything with data in any sort of systematic way."
That focus on doing things smarter when it came to things on the pitch has helped lead them to a Champions League title and Premier League title. Before they qualified for the 2014/15 Champions League the Reds were last in it in 2009/10, when they exited at the group stage. Fast forward to 2022 and Champions League football is a vital part of Liverpool's financial success and ability to invest, with a strong showing in the competition worth £100m per year and above.
Liverpool's footballing success has grown their appeal globally, which is something that has allowed them to maximise commercial revenues through getting better terms on deals with partners. Without that level of success then the commercial side of the football club would not have been able to accelerate at the levels it has in recent seasons.
The contrast with United is stark. The outcome for both owners is the the same; they want their teams to make as much money as possible. The difference between them is that having your commercial success and your footballing success following the same arc has been key for FSG, something which is the result of planning and investment in strategy. For United it has been a case of hoping things will always be good and throwing good money after bad while attempting to resurrect the glory days.
