Manchester United Football Club are one of the best known brands in the world and have become the envy of many within the world of sports business. Their recently-released annual results showed some interesting points.

The company announced that pre-tax profits for financial year 2003-04 had fallen from £39.3m to £27.9m, a decrease of some 30%. This fall can largely be explained by the club's purchase of new players, plus its relatively poor performance during the last league season.

A warning was also issued that the next set of financial results could suffer, mainly as a result of the club seeing a drop in television revenues after they finished 3rd in the Premiership last season (between the two London clubs, Arsenal and Chelsea).

The company also released details of payments made to football agents during the last 12 months, revealing that some £5.5m had been paid for their services.

Manchester United have also been the subject of takeover speculation during the last year. Names linked with a potential move for the company have included racehorse owners John Magnier and JP McManus.

Malcom Glazer linked with a takeover of Man United.

United fans unhappy with Glazer and his proposed takeover.