Manchester United targeted a swift return to the lucrative Champions League yesterday, after forecasting lower profit this season when they will be absent from European competition for the first time in more than two decades.

Twenty-times English champions, United will pay the price in this financial year for a season of rare sporting struggles in 2013-14, when the team finished only seventh in the Premier League and failed to qualify for Europe.

Despite that poor form, improved TV and sponsorship deals helped United to report revenue of £433 million in the year to the end of June, and core profit of £130 million, both record figures.

But missing out on a place in the Champions League, Europe’s top club competition, means United expect a decline in revenue to between £385 and £395 million pounds in the current year.

Profit is forecast to fall to between £90 and £95 million.

Those estimates are based on the club finishing third in the Premier League, underlining the pressure on new manager, Louis van Gaal, to engineer a swift turnaround.

United, majority owned by the American Glazer family, have spent heavily on new players, signing Argentine winger Angel di Maria from Real Madrid and recruiting Colombian striker Radamel Falcao, who joined on loan from Monaco.

“We are very excited about the future and believe it’s the start of a new chapter in the club‘s history,” executive vice-chairman Ed Woodward said in a statement.

United’s enforced European exile is set to widen the gap in revenue with their biggest continental rivals.

European champions Real Madrid for instance reported revenue of €604 million (£485.75 million) in 2013-14, reinforcing the club’s position as the game’s top earners.

The influx of new players at Manchester United, at a total gross cost of around £150 million, has somewhat quietened the Glazers’ football critics who were angered when the family last month cashed in shares in the club worth around $200 million.

United made a shaky start to the current season, failing to win any of their three Premier League matches so far and being eliminated from the League Cup.

However, Woodward said he expected Van Gaal to have the club back competing for titles after what he called a “challenging and disappointing season”.

Sign up to our free newsletters

Get the best updates straight to your inbox:
Please select at least one mailing list.

You can unsubscribe at any time by clicking the link in the footer of our emails. We use Mailchimp as our marketing platform. By subscribing, you acknowledge that your information will be transferred to Mailchimp for processing.