Manchester United spent the international break in the Premier League relegation zone, a position the club have not occupied after at least nine matches since November 1986. One win in 10 games, a 4-4 draw with Aston Villa on 8 November, and Nottingham Forest’s win over Manchester City on the same weekend were enough to drop the club into the bottom three.
Nine matches earlier, United were announcing record full-year revenue of £677.6m on the back of a third-place Premier League finish in 2025-26. Head coach Michael Carrick remains in post under review, with the board assessing his position during the international break.
The one thing United’s wage bill cannot do
The counterintuitive point in a Sports Mole breakdown of the consequences is what the club cannot do with the squad. The players’ current contracts do not contain relegation clauses that would let United cut salaries if the team dropped down. A wage bill built for Champions League football would travel with the squad into the Championship unless individual players agreed to reductions or were sold.
Bruno Fernandes and Marcus Rashford are the two names Sports Mole places at the top of that list, with Saudi Pro League exits seen as plausible. Harry Maguire, Lisandro Martinez and Luke Shaw, whose deals expire in 2027, would not be in line for renewals. Joshua Zirkzee, Matthijs de Ligt, Noussair Mazraoui, Manuel Ugarte, Diogo Dalot and Youri Tielemans are all on the list of players the club would look to move.
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Where the money would actually go
Broadcasting is where the largest hole would open. The £206.8m United earned from television rights in 2025-26 would fall to a projected £55m to £65m in the Championship, according to the Sports Mole modelling.
Premier League parachute payments would soften, not plug, that gap. A relegated club receives 55% of equally shared Premier League broadcast revenue in the first year, around £48.9m at current figures, 45% in the second year and 20% in the third if the club does not go straight back up.
Commercial deals would take a separate hit. Performance clauses in kit and sponsor contracts would drag United’s £317.3m commercial line into the £220m to £260m range in the Sports Mole projection. Matchday income, £153.5m last season, would fall towards £100m to £125m, with 23 Championship home games only partly offsetting lower ticket prices.
Added together, Championship revenue would land at an estimated £375m to £450m. The gap on the FY26 total is roughly £230m to £300m.
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No change in the ownership box
The ownership arithmetic is the one place relegation would not force a change. The Glazer family is not expected to sell, the Sports Mole analysis argues, with the owners waiting for a better valuation window. Sporting director Jason Wilcox and chief executive Omar Berrada would almost certainly be removed. Carrick’s position would also be revisited, with Eddie Howe and Kieran McKenna named as potential successors.
None of this has happened yet. United play Liverpool at Anfield on 22 November.
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