Manchester United yesterday revealed that it agreed payments to players' agents of £5.5 million (€9 million) last year, equivalent to more than 9 per cent of the club's operating profit and almost 20 per cent of its pre-tax profit.

The club announced a £11.4 million fall in pre-tax profits and warned of a decline in television income this year, partly as a result of last season's relative failure on the pitch.

The club decided to publish the details of agents' fees after pressure from Irish investors John Magnier and JP McManus, whose Cubic Expression fund owns 29 per cent of the shares and tabled 99 questions for the board on governance last year.

Mr David Gill, Manchester United's chief executive, defended the size of the sums involved, saying agents served a function in the game.

"I don't think it's realistic, for example, to expect Wayne Rooney, whose talents are clearly in his feet, to conduct contractual negotiations without an agent."

The £27 million purchase of Rooney, generating £1.5 million for the player's agent, came after the end of Manchester United's financial year.

The biggest contributors to last year's £5.5 million bill were the £1.13 million paid to the representative of Cristiano Ronaldo, who was bought from Sporting Lisbon, and the £1.2 million agreed for Ruud van Nistelrooy's agent when the Dutch striker extended his contract.

United's 29 per cent fall in pre-tax profits to £27.9 million for the year to July was heavily influenced by the failure to repeat the previous year's transfer windfall from selling David Beckham to Real Madrid.

At the operating level, profits improved 6 per cent to a record £58.3 million but the group warned it would suffer a £14 million hit this year from lower television income from both the Premier League and the Champions League.

In both cases, receipts are partly determined by league position and Manchester United finished third last year, behind Arsenal and Chelsea. - (Guardian Service)