Premier League giant Manchester United lost to Grimsby Town, a club in the fourth division of English soccer, in the Carabao Cup on Wednesday. It was one of the biggest upsets possible in terms of squad payroll differential.
Manchester United pays its squad about 96 times more in gross annual wages than Grimsby, according to Capology, at £182 million ($246 million based on the current exchange rate) compared to £1.9 million ($2.6 million). Manchester United has more than 20 players on its books whose earnings this season will eclipse every Grimsby player combined.
The Red Devils are the second most valuable soccer club in the world, per Sportico‘s latest valuations. It goes without saying that Grimsby is nowhere near the radar of such a list.
After a nightmare 2024-25 season in which it finished in 15th place in the Premier League, Manchester United is doing little to show fans it can escape its multiyear spiral. Despite spending more than $200 million in transfer fees during the summer window, the organization has failed to win its first two league matches this campaign and is now out of the Carabao Cup. The club didn’t qualify for any European competitions.
Manchester United lost money for a sixth consecutive season in 2024-25 and conducted multiple rounds of staff layoffs. Without the windfall that comes with competing in the Champions League, this season is likely to end up in the red, too.
Feeling the pressure, manager Ruben Amorim told reporters after the penalty shootout loss to Grimsby that his players’ attitudes “spoke really loud.”
“When everything is so important in our club, everything that happened, it’s a problem in our club, we should do so much better,” Amorim said.