From running out of cash by Christmas to record revenues. Manchester United minority owner Sir Jim Ratcliffe truly is a miracle worker. Despite Sir Jim’s dire predictions United generated the unprecedented sum of £666m, which keen-eyed readers of symbols will recognise as the sign of the beast, or the devil, or the (Red) Devils if you will.

Of course, headline figures do not tell the whole story. United recorded an operating loss of £18.4m. Though that is down on the previous year, it takes the total losses under the stewardship of majority owners, the Glazers, to an eye-watering £522m over 20 years. Oh, on top of that sits half a billion pounds of debt courtesy of the leveraged purchase made by the Glazers in 2005.

By the by, the accounting period ended in June so the numbers did not in

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