WITH MANCHESTER United powering to a probable second successive Premier League title and ready for a Champions League final, it appears that life at Old Trafford could hardly be rosier, but the club's accounts, now published in full, detail a significantly bleaker picture of the club's finances under the ownership of the Florida-based Glazer family.

Before the family's 2005 takeover, United prided itself on being the only Premier League club regularly to make a significant profit, to have cash in the bank and, unlike all the others, no debts.

After the leveraged takeover, the Glazer family loaded their borrowings on to the club and the position has changed. The accounts for the company that the Glazers use to own United show total borrowings, in the year to June 30th 2007, were up to €847 million, by far the highest of any English football club, ever.

The total owed to all creditors, including the banks, was up to €972 million and includes €71 million that United owe to other clubs in transfer fee instalments on players Alex Ferguson has signed.

The total interest payable by the club on its borrowings was €103 million, although only €53 million was actually paid. The rest, which accrued on the millions owed to hedge funds, is allowed to roll up until the whole amount has to be repaid in 2016, or, alternatively, until the Glazers can refinance it.

A total of €193 million is currently owed to hedge funds, at 14.25 per cent interest a year - €28 million from 2007-08. Last year the Glazers tried to refinance but were unable to strike a deal with financial institutions, and a spokesman acknowledged that the credit crunch is making it more difficult now.

David Gill, United's chief executive, announced the headline results back in January, stressing that United's phenomenal money-making power, with 76,000 crowding into Old Trafford and the Premier League's huge TV rights deals, had produced record income of €267 million and operating profits of €95 million.

The accounts show, however, that even though United made a further €14 million profit from buying and selling players, the interest and other accounting provisions pushed United into recording an overall loss of €73 million. The accounts also reveal that by far the highest proportion of income, €117 million, is still generated on home match days, and although the club has announced more modest ticket price rises for next season than for the previous two, supporters groups continue to protest that they are paying the debts of a takeover they opposed.

"It is outrageous that supporters are paying the huge interest on these borrowings, which are worrying for the club's future," said Sean Bones of the Manchester United Supporters Trust. "Our money is pouring out to pay the Glazers, while they have not put a penny into the club."

The spokesman for the Glazer family pointed to the club's success on the field, and in generating income off it, as evidence of the family's competent management. "The family continue to run United as a business," he said. "Their model is to encourage success on the pitch by backing Sir Alex Ferguson, and to grow revenues off it. The interest payments are more than covered by the cash generated."