It is August. Britain is basking. The new football season is barely three weeks old. And yet tonight at their Old Trafford base, Manchester United, England's premier football club, play what in crude financial terms could be their most important match of the season.
To traditionalists, it simply does not seem decent, particularly since their opponents, Zalaegerszeg of Hungary, could scarcely be more obscure. But this situation says a lot about the hard realities of the modern professional game.
Participation in the European Champions League, the Continent's premier annual club competition, has become a financial imperative for Europe's leading clubs, especially those, like United, who have a stock market listing.
Last year's United annual report spells out just why: "Total operating profit from the European Champions League competition [where the team reached the quarter-final stage\] was £19.2 million sterling [€30 million\], representing 60 per cent of our total operating profit before player amortisation."
Tonight's match will determine whether United, who finished an uncharacteristically low third in last season's Premiership, will have one of the 32 seats at this season's Champions League table.What is more, they kick off at a disadvantage, having astonished the football world by losing the first leg 1-0.
However, it is not fair to view the encounter as "the £20 million match".
The losers will take part in the UEFA Cup, the other main European club competition, won in recent years by the likes of Liverpool and Internazionale. This constitutes a far from negligible consolation prize.
Feyenoord Rotterdam, last year's winners, say they received a net €6 million of the €10 million of turnover from their run.
Mr Mark Oliver, managing director of sports' rights specialist Oliver & Ohlbaum, estimates United could raise between £1.5 million and £2 million per round from selling the UK and overseas rights to any UEFA Cup home games.
There are also gate receipts to take into consideration, with United managing director Mr David Gill putting the incremental value of a game at the club's 67,000-plus capacity stadium (which it nearly always fills) at £900,000 to £1 million.
But the UEFA Cup's structure, with no Champions League-style groups or mini-leagues, means a club's participation could end after just one tie.
Even winning it would not generate the sort of largesse to be expected from the Champions League.
According to Feyenoord: "There really is a big difference between the Champions League and the UEFA Cup, even if you win the UEFA Cup."
An intelligent guess might be that failure to qualify tonight could knock 10 to 15 per cent off United's turnover this year, although the final figure would depend on UEFA Cup progress.
Turnover reached £130 million in the year ended July 31st, 2001, but is thought to have been significantly higher in the latest year.
What is more, Champions League turnover is high margin. Mr Gill puts the margin on the £15 million to £16 million in revenues the club might get from progressing through the Champions League's two group phases at 80 per cent to 85 per cent.
All things considered, elimination could trigger a significant drop in United's share price and maybe a resurrection of takeover rumours. It could even produce calls for Sir Alex Ferguson, the veteran manager who this year signed a new contract, to quit.
Happily for both fans and investors, the Red Devils are red-hot favourites.
The Hungarians, from a town of 60,000 near the Slovenian and Croatian borders, are comparative small fry, even in domestic terms.
While United are sponsored by Vodafone, the world's biggest mobile phone company, Zalaegerszeg have to make do with Zalahus, a local meat processor. - (Financial Times Service)
