Manchester United's finance chief warns against plans to split European competition revenues

A senior Manchester United executive has warned fellow European clubs that they cannot expect a much greater share of the revenue from the Champions League and Uefa competitions, and should remember that “value is created at the top”.

Cliff Baty, the chief financial officer at United, addressed hundreds of clubs at the annual meeting of the European Leagues [EL], the representative body for domestic leagues, telling them that greater redistribution would make it harder for bigger clubs.

United are not in the Champions League next season, their sixth-place Premier League finish qualifying them for the group stages of the Europa League. Baty said: “Whilst I appreciate the sentiment of wanting to give more money [to smaller clubs and those outside European competition] the pie is getting bigger – [and] the reason the broadcasters are paying that much money is for the product, frankly at the Champions League level.

"If you're changing the distribution and wanting more money, I think you've got to be careful what you're doing there. We all know where the value is created, let's not kid ourselves.

"I think we should put more money down, I totally agree with the sentiment, but the value is created at the top. So if you start changing that, and making it more difficult for the bigger clubs to perform, it's hard."

On the situation of United and other established clubs like it, Baty said: “From our perspective [the current method of revenue distribution] gives us a degree of certainty that helps in terms of sustainability, and all the discussions that are happening around financial sustainability and financial fair play in football. If you take that away, it's going to increase the volatility and it's going to be more difficult