AMID the general post-Barcelona euphoria, the City men alone stayed calm. Manchester United shares rose by less than the price of a YTS trainee's bootlace on Thursday. Unlike the fans, investors are ruled by their heads not their hearts.
One pundit even advised: "Sell the Dream", convinced that in securing their unique treble United had scaled the highest peak, leaving only one direction in which the club might now travel. He may, of course, have been bitten by the share price slump since the government blocked the proposed £635m takeover deal by BSkyB, the satellite television station in which News Corporation has a 40% stake. However, the Old Trafford money-making department presents a far healthier scenario that should buck the stock market's current general disaffection with football shares.
Wednesday's success against Bayern Munich was constructed on financial foundations that are already the subject of envy. With an annual turnover of £90m, United is the world's richest football club. Yet the club has so far only tapped into the more obvious seams of a gold mine with virtually unlimited potential, and future investment plans are well advanced.
As Robert Elstone, a sports business consultant with Deloitte and Touche, said: "Success is important on the field but Manchester United is developing businesses that could insulate the club from one or two seasons of decline in results."
Supporters may have been dismayed to read that Alex Ferguson has only £10m to spend on strengthening his squad for next season, but it is short-term prudence while the club rounds off a nine-year £135m capital programme by expanding Old Trafford's capacity by 12,400 extra seats and completes its £14m training camp at Carrington. Future sellout crowds will yield an extra £176,000 from every home game, while the United academy, with facilities second to none, should attract the future generations of home-grown stars that will save the club millions in the transfer market.
Within the next few months Peter Kenyon, the club's deputy chief executive, will be embarking on a series of worldwide contractual negotiations, which will expand the club's marketing base in the Middle and Far East. An estimated 20m potential customers, accustomed to a diet of the Premiership on television, exist in China alone. The Thai language edition of the United Magazine sells 20,000 copies a month. The opportunities are limitless but, for the moment, United have had to put a block on the creation of new internationally-based official supporters groups.
Kenyon's plans are advanced to open a chain of stores and cafés across the Far East, each with floor space of 15-20,000 square feet and entitled the Theatre of Dreams, to which fans are expected to flock.
While most may never get to Old Trafford, they will experience the virtual reality of the ground, enjoy their heroes on video and snap up the merchandise.
"For a club that is so globally known in the world's No 1 sport there is so much potential to be realised," said Elstone. "It may not be so easy to unlock. That will take a lot of skill and focused business management. But the potential is enormous. The biggest asset of any football club is its fan base and Manchester United have a special relationship with their followers."
The driving force behind United's business schemes is David Gill, the club's financial director, who helped to build the First Choice leisure group into a quoted company. Gill will not have to lift a finger to improve potential playing rewards next season when the prize money offered by the expanded European Champions League will be trebled.
In his offices a keen interest is being taken in the soon-to-be announced outcome of the High Court case in which the Office of Fair Trading is challenging the legality of the Premier League's TV deal with BSkyB and the BBC.
While smaller Premiership clubs fear a loss of income if the League loses its collective bargaining rights, United are in a win-win situation. As consistently the most successful Premiership club, they will continue to receive the biggest share of the TV fees if the agreement is allowed to run its natural course until 2002 and is renewed at an even higher price.
If clubs are left to negotiate their own deals, the demand to screen United games will turn into a stampede from broadcasters worldwide, with the prices to be paid soaring accordingly. It will also enhance the potential advertising income from MUTV, United's own fledgling television station, which is currently prohibited from showing first-team League games. The ability to load videos or even live coverage of United's matches would also expand the already colossal interest in the club's website.
When all the extra income is on stream, the United directors will have to tread a delicate path between keeping their fans happy, the need to offer a profits return to their shareholders and reinvesting in the club's playing future. But that's much easier when the figures are clear-cut.
United can be expected to keep their admission prices on the low side [they are currently only the 14th highest in the Premiership] to keep in touch with their basic fan base. Those fans will act as a cushion in the event of a predicted downturn in corporate entertaining, which might call for a complete rethink at clubs such as Chelsea.
The tricky transfer fee-profits equation may also prove easier to solve at Old Trafford than anywhere else. In the short term, if Ferguson opts to sign Aston Villa's Mark Bosnich as a replacement for Peter Schmeichel he will, because of the Bosman ruling, be able to spread out the total cost over the full period of the player's contract.
There will be future signings on similar scales to Jaap Stam and Dwight Yorke, but with a steady production line of home-grown players, Ferguson can be choosy while working within a generous budget.
United have spent £28m on players in the past 12 months yet still possess reserves of £30m and are expected to announce sizeable profits on the past season. Some might wish to Sell the Dream, but the reality still looks pretty attractive.
