Manchester United may be facing an uphill task in the Premier League against their neighbours at Manchester City, but there may still be hope for them to improve their performance when it comes to the number of days taken to pay their suppliers.
According to data collected by the Government, Manchester United is taking an average of 28 days to pay its suppliers, whereas Manchester City takes an average of 25 days. In another local derby, Liverpool takes 27 days to pay and Everton takes 31 days.
Swansea City wins the award for fair play, topping the table of prompt payers among the football clubs that are included in the Government data and taking an average of 19 days to pay its suppliers. At the other end of the table, Southampton (45 days) and Blackburn Rovers (42 days) are listed as the football clubs that take the longest average time to pay their suppliers.
Swansea City Association Football Club Ltd (The): 19 days
Manchester City Football Club Ltd: 25 days
The Derby County Football Club Ltd: 25 days
The Liverpool Football Club & Athletic Grounds Ltd: 27 days
Manchester United Football Club Ltd: 28 days
Stoke City Football Club Ltd: 28 days
The Reading Football Club Ltd: 30 days
Everton Football Club Company Ltd: 31 days
Aston Villa Football Club Ltd: 33 days
Watford Association Football Club Ltd (The): 33 days
The Arsenal Football Club PLC: 34 days
Fulham Football Club Ltd: 38 days
Norwich City Football Club PLC: 42 days
The Blackburn Rovers Football & Athletic Ltd: 42 days
Southampton Football Club Ltd: 45 days
Late payments continue to be a major concern for small businesses in the UK and the Government is conducting a consultation on how to tackle the problem. Over 6,000 companies are included in the data collected by the Government and more than 61% report an average of more than 30 days to pay their suppliers. 41% report that a third of invoices are not paid on the agreed terms.
Small businesses deserve to be treated better by large organisations and there really should be no reason for a supplier to suffer payment delays for goods or services that they have successfully and diligently delivered. Placing undue strain on the supply chain is a limiter to economic growth and increasing the velocity of payments injects substantial liquidity into the national economy.