Manchester United have announced a world record profit for a football club, it was revealed today.

The Manchester Evening News says the Premier League champions made £71.8m for the season 2007-8 to put them at the top of the money tree globally.

Their revenue of £257.1m also saw them outperform the rest of their Premier League rivals - with figures suggesting they are bucking the global economic crisis.

But they are still behind Real Madrid (£289.6m) in terms of revenue generated, though that owes much to the slump of the pound against the Euro.

The figures - compiled by Deloitte's Annual Review of Football Finance - come a day after United announced a new £80m shirt sponsorship deal with American financial giant Aon Corp.