Explained: Why Man Utd were given 'exceptional £40m allowance no other Premier League club had' as Red Devils avoid PSR penalties despite financial losses

Earlier this week, Stefan Borson, a football finance expert, told talkSPORT that United would have failed Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) if they had not been granted an "exceptional allowance", after accounting for a £40 million loss due to Covid in 2021-22.

"United would have failed PSR for the season just gone, save for two things," Borson said. "One, they were given, it appears, an exceptional allowance of £40m for Covid in 2022, which no other club had.

"On top of that, it seems they have been given an allowance for around £35m of exceptional costs relating to the share sale to (Sir Jim) Ratcliffe.

"The only way in which they can make the 2023-24 PSR number, and this is not just my view based on publicly available information in the US, was by having these allowances."

The Athletic has now explained the verbiage used. The term "exceptional" in this instance does not imply any special treatment - merely it is a term that is used by clubs in their accounts to explain costs that aren't regular.

Per football finance expert Kieran Maguire, United have to declare their losses related to Covid because they are listed on the New York Stock Exchange and therefore must disclose more information. The £40m loss is attributed to the club cancelling their 2021 summer tour, debts incurred from commercial partners, United being unable to fulfil certain sponsorship obligations and rebates owed to broadcasters.

While United had to share their losses in publicly-available accounts, The Athletic's report reveals that their Premier League rivals used a private method to submit details of Covid-linked losses. Clubs were allowed to incorporate the financial impact of Covid in their PSR calculations, which explains how United and others were able to avoid being penalised.

United's financial statements reveal that the club lost £241.7m ($281m) across the three years of Covid-19. Two other clubs, Tottenham and Arsenal, are reported to have Covid losses of over £100m ($127m).

United have not broken any rules with their accounting and are now preparing for the new season. They play Manchester City in the Community Shield this weekend before kicking off the Premier League campaign against Fulham the following Friday.