Van Gaal sacked after failing to make top 4
Manchester United paid £8.4m to Louis van Gaal and his backroom staff to release them from their contracts, the club’s recent revenue figures indicate.
The former Ajax, Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach was sacked in May after failing to qualify for this season’s Champions League and was replaced by Jose Mourinho.
A note in the results also reveals that United wrote off £6.7m due to Bastian Schweinsteiger no longer being considered a first-team player.
United’s results also reveal that the club became the first in England to earn over half a billion pounds in a single fiscal year.
United’s total revenue amounted to £515.3million, just short of the €679million (£570million) announced by Barcelona in July. The north-west club also posted a record profit of £65m.
Executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward, commenting on the results, said in a statement: “Our record fiscal 2016 financial performance reflects the continued underlying strength of the business and the club is on target to achieve record revenues in 2017, even without a contribution from the Champions League.
“This strong financial performance has enabled us to invest in our squad, team management and facilities to position us to challenge for, and win, trophies in the coming years.”
United suffered through a tough 2015/16 campaign, with FA Cup glory not enough to save Van Gaal, who was criticized for having a boring style of play and not being able to get the results many expected.
fifth-place finish in the Premier League saw United miss out on Champions League qualification, but matters away from the pitch were far more successful as they made a club record total revenue.
By Ben Kelly – @benkelly_10
