The Stunning Collapse of the Premier League’s Most Successful Club

There was a time in European soccer when Manchester United was known as one of the smartest spenders in the game.

The club’s massive commercial empire allowed it to pay sky-high salaries, outbid rivals for talent, and turn over its squad often enough and cleverly enough to build several different dynasties. The approach was costly, but the club left no doubt that it worked.

These days, United is learning the hard way that losing can be just as expensive.

The crisis at the club runs so deep that it’s taking emergency measures everywhere it can to cut costs, despite record investment. It was less than two years ago that British petrochemicals billionaire Jim Ratcliffe paid $1.3 billion for a 25% stake in United, which he has since increased to 29%, on top of a $300 million injection of cash.

Since then, results have only gone backwards. The club has continued a streak of losing money every year since 2019. The squad is so thin that a sudden rash of injuries has left it desperately short of senior players. And United currently languishes in 14th place in the English Premier League after a 1-1 draw against Arsenal.

A midseason coaching change cost United around $28 million to pull off, according to the club’s accounts. Some $13.5 million went to previous manager Erik ten Hag and his coaching staff in severance, while the cost of bringing in Ruben Amorim and his assistants from Sporting Lisbon hit $14.5 million.

And while money goes out for correcting course on the pitch, the club is trying to find ways to save cash away from it. Last month, United announced around 200 layoffs, beyond the 250 jobs it had already cut in 2024. The club also announced plans to close its staff cafeteria and ended its policy of serving free lunches to non-players at the practice facility.

“This cannot continue,” United CEO Omar Berrada said. “These hard choices are necessary to put the club back on a stable financial footing.”

The quickest way for a club of United’s standing to do that is to qualify for the richest annual event in club soccer, the Champions League. Simply showing up for the tournament this season was worth $20 million, with bonuses paid for each draw or victory. A trip to the quarterfinals adds another $25 million, while the team that wins the whole thing could rake in more than $80 million.

But United is nowhere near a Champions League qualifying berth for next season. Its only path back into the elite would be winning this season’s Europa League, which looks far-fetched—the club is currently tied in its round-of-16 matchup against Spain’s Real Sociedad.

“If you have a football team that is playing well and are winning games then, in a certain way, it’s easier for the fans and for everybody to feel those changes,” head coach Ruben Amorim said of the restructuring at United.

Things have devolved so far that one United supporters’ group is organizing a protest outside Old Trafford ahead of Sunday’s home game against Arsenal, because it believes the club is “slowly dying.”

“For everyone in our club, it is a tough moment,” Amorim said. “People have the right to protest.”

The last time United finished outside the top 10 in England’s top tier was the 1989-90 season. Back then the creaking club was also racked by injuries and lost more games than it won, but stood by its embattled manager while fans clamored for him to be fired. Only a narrow victory in the FA Cup kept him in place. If it’s any consolation to United supporters 35 years later, that manager’s name was Alex Ferguson. He went on to turn Manchester United into one of the most successful clubs of the modern era.

These days, however, the club seems farther away from a revival than ever. The club that prided itself on its relentless goal scoring under Ferguson has netted fewer goals than 14 other teams. It hasn’t won back-to-back games in the Premier League all season. And Amorim has openly questioned the effort of some of his players.

“You can’t be at 99% every day because then you lose games against the teams that are in the Premier League,” United defender Matthijs de Ligt said. “In a lot of games, we haven’t been good enough.”

What United doesn’t seem to know is how to fix it. Amorim has defended the team’s style of play and reshuffled his squad in the hopes that there is enough cash on hand to bring in reinforcements this summer.

“But sometimes it’s a lack of results and you have to win games,” Amorim said. “I know the consequences when you don’t win.”

Write to Joshua Robinson at Joshua.Robinson@wsj.com

For decades, the world’s computing power has quietly expanded at an astonishing pace.

From the first transistor developed at Bell Labs in 1947 to modern processors containing billions and even trillions of transistors, each generation of technology has been faster, smaller and more powerful than the last.

But according to quantum physicist and technology entrepreneur David Reilly, that era of effortless progress is beginning to slow.

Reilly, CEO of Sydney-based Emergence Quantum and Professor of Physics at the University of Sydney, says the computing infrastructure underpinning modern economies is approaching fundamental physical limits.

And that could have enormous implications for finance, artificial intelligence and global investment.

Speaking at an industry event organised by Kanebridge International, Reilly said many critical parts of modern society depend on computing and the infrastructure used to process information.

The slowdown behind the tech boom

For years, the technology industry relied on a steady improvement known as Moore’s Law, where the number of transistors on a chip doubled roughly every two years.

More transistors meant more computing power, allowing faster software, smarter devices and ever-larger data systems.

Today, however, those gains are slowing.

“It feels to me very innate that I’m going to just find that next year there’s going to be another breakthrough,” Reilly said.

“But if you look at the data…there’s a slowing down, a roll off in performance that started some 10, 20 years ago.”

Rather than making chips dramatically faster, manufacturers are now largely increasing computing capacity by packing more transistors onto each processor.

The approach works, but it comes with growing complexity, higher costs and increasing energy demands.

The brute-force race for AI

That challenge is already visible in the massive data centres being built to support artificial intelligence.

In the race to dominate AI, companies are constructing vast computing facilities that consume huge amounts of electricity and water. Reilly described this expansion as a “brute force” approach driven by the global competition to develop advanced AI systems.

Yet the demand for computing power continues to accelerate.

Artificial intelligence, advanced robotics, healthcare research, pharmaceuticals and cybersecurity all require far more processing capacity than today’s systems can easily deliver.

The question now facing the technology sector is whether traditional computing can keep up.

Enter quantum computing

That is where quantum computing enters the conversation.

Unlike conventional computers, which process information using binary switches that represent ones and zeros, quantum computers exploit the unusual behaviour of particles at the atomic scale.

Reilly describes them as a fundamentally different type of machine.

“So a quantum computer is a wave computer,” he said.

Instead of processing information through simple on-off switches, quantum systems can use wave-like properties of particles to process many possible outcomes simultaneously.

Those waves can interact in complex ways, reinforcing correct solutions while cancelling out incorrect ones. In theory, this allows quantum systems to tackle certain types of problems dramatically faster than classical computers.

What it could mean for finance

The concept may sound abstract, but its potential applications are significant.

Quantum computers are expected to transform areas such as materials science, chemical modelling and pharmaceutical development.

They could also help solve complex optimisation problems in logistics, finance and risk management.

For financial institutions in particular, the technology could offer new tools for detecting fraud, analysing market behaviour and optimising portfolios.

But the shift will not happen overnight.

“One message to take away is that quantum is not going to suddenly solve all of your problems,” Reilly said.

Instead, he said quantum systems will likely complement existing computing technologies as part of a broader and more diverse computing ecosystem.

Why data centres may soon “go cold”

One key change already emerging is how computing systems are physically designed.

Many next-generation technologies, including quantum processors, operate far more efficiently at extremely low temperatures. As a result, future data centres may rely heavily on cryogenic cooling systems to manage heat and energy consumption.

Reilly believes that the shift will gradually reshape the computing industry.

“Over the next five years, you’re going to see data centres go cold,” he said.

“And as that happens, they almost drag with them new compute paradigms.”

Emergence Quantum, the company he co-founded, is focused on developing technologies to support that transition, including cryogenic electronics and integrated hardware platforms designed for quantum computing and energy-efficient systems.

A new technological era

For investors and businesses, the technology remains in its early stages. But the scale of global interest is growing rapidly.

Governments, research institutions and technology companies are investing heavily in quantum research, betting it could become a foundational technology for the next generation of computing.

For Reilly, the moment feels similar to earlier technological turning points.

In the 19th century, new discoveries in thermodynamics helped drive the development of steam engines and the Industrial Revolution. In the 20th century, advances in electromagnetism led to radio, television and eventually the internet.

Quantum physics, he suggests, could represent the next chapter in that story.

“Today we have, as a society, in our hands new physics that we’re just beginning to figure out what to do with,” Reilly said.

“But I think it’s an exciting time to be alive and watch what happens over the coming decades.”