GARY NEVILLE KEEPS QUIET ON FUTURE
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Manchester United have dropped to third place behind Real Madrid and Barcelona in the 'rich list' of European clubs.
The Deloitte Football Money League sees the two Spanish clubs secure the top spots but mainly due to the continuing decline of the pound against the euro.
Real Madrid has topped the 'rich list' for the last five years but Barcelona's unprecedented success last season where they won five trophies has seen them overtake United despite a 9% rise in income at Old Trafford.
The overwhelming dominance of Real Madrid and Barcelona in Spain is shown by the fact that no other La Liga side occupy a top 20 place, while there is a strong sprinkling of Italian and German clubs, including Bayern Munich who are fourth.
The two Spanish giants have one significant advantage in revenue terms in that they negotiate their own individual television rights while the Premier League have a collective deal which is shared much more equally among all 20 clubs.
The most notable change in the list, based on clubs' revenue excluding transfer fees, sees Arsenal leapfrog Chelsea, with the Gunners recording a 7% rise in revenue to £224million compared to their London rivals' £206million - a 3% fall in revenue.
Dan Jones, partner in the sports business group at Deloitte, told Press Association Sport: "Chelsea's revenue has dropped because last season was a bit worse than usual on the pitch, they had frozen season ticket prices and there was not a lot going on in big new commercial developments.
"Arsenal have the advantage in matchday income with a new 60,000-seater stadium and they made the semi-finals of both the Champions League and the FA Cup.
"All the English clubs were impacted by the continuing depreciation of the pound against the euro and the scale of this is shown by the fact that if exchange rates remained at their June 2007 level, United would be top of the money league table."
Liverpool, who enjoyed an 11% revenue increase, rose a place to seventh above AC Milan. There are seven English sides in the top 20 in Europe - Tottenham are 15th, Manchester City 19th and Newcastle 20th.
Positions (last year's position in brackets):
1 (1) Real Madrid £341.9million
2 (3) Barcelona £311.7m
3 (2) Man Utd £278.5m
4 (4) Bayern Munich £246.6m
5 (6) Arsenal £224.0m
6 (5) Chelsea £206.4m
7 (8) Liverpool £184.8m
8 (11) Juventus £173.1m
9 (10) Internazionale £167.4m
10 (7) AC Milan £167.4m
11 (15) Hamburg £124.9m
12 (9) Roma £124.7m
13 (12) Lyon £118.9m
14 (16) Marseille £113.5m
15 (14) Tottenham £113.0m
16 (13) Schalke £106.0m
17 (n/a) Werder Bremen £97.7m
18 (20) B Dortmund £88.1m
19 (n/a) Man City £87.0m
20 (17) Newcastle £86.0m
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Neville - impressed against AC Milan.
Gary Neville remains adamant that he will refuse to discuss his future at Manchester United until the end of the season.
Neville, who turned 35 last month, is out of contract in the summer and has yet to be offered a new deal by the Carling Cup winners.
Earlier in the campaign there were suggestions that the defender could retire in May, but after a solid display against AC Milan in the Champions League it has now been suggested that he is in England contention for the World Cup.
Neville, though, does not want to speculate and is focusing on helping United in Europe and the Premier League.
"There's nothing I really want to say on that," he said in The Times when asked about his future. "I'll discuss it at the end of the season.
"I play for United and try to play well and where that takes me then, who knows? But I'm not focusing on that (the World Cup)."
Meanwhile, Neville is aware that United cannot afford to continue to rely on good fortune in the league title race.
"We are thankful in the league to still be in the position we are in," he said. "To lose six matches and it still to be in our hands, we're delighted with that.
"You wouldn't normally get away with that in a season, but it's been a weird season. Maybe it has been like that for other clubs as well. We're just grateful we're in a position to challenge.
"We are into March; this and April are the key months of the season. The countdown has started and we want to keep all our players fit now.
"It's crucial. It's an important factor for all clubs that they keep the most important players fit."