Manchester United reports important profit growth:

Manchester United has reported a record annual operating profit of £110.9m.

Revenue rose to £334.1m for the year to the end of June 2011, also a record, up £45m on the previous year. Headline pre-tax profit came in at £29.7m, compared with a loss last year.

The football club is preparing a partial flotation on the Singapore Stock Exchange to raise up to £600m.

Last season, Manchester United won the Premier League and reached the final of the Champions League against Barcelona.

Turnover in all three major areas of the business increased against a year earlier, with matchday revenue rising to £108.6m from £100.2m, media revenue climbing to £119.4 from £104.8m, and commercial revenue growing to £103.4m from £81.4m.

Manchester United's Sir Alex Ferguson hard on FA:

Sir Alex Ferguson has accused the Football Association of treating Manchester United unfairly.

The United manager, hit with a five-match touchline ban last season, made the claims while talking about having up to eight players on England duty.

Ferguson, 69, said: "The FA may realise who has produced more players for their country than any club in the world.

"Maybe they will realise how important we are to England instead of treating us like s***."

In March, Ferguson was given a five-match touchline ban and £30,000 fine by the FA for criticising referee Martin Atkinson. He initially received a three-game ban for the remarks and saw a two-game suspended ban he had previously earned for saying referee Alan Wiley was not "fit enough" to keep up with play activated.

The following month, United striker Wayne Rooney was banned for two matches for swearing into a TV camera.

Manchester United overview history till 2011:

Manchester United is the all time most successful Premier League club having won the title 12 times. The quest all began in 1993 when manager Sir Alex Ferguson ended a 26-year wait to lift the Premier League crown. The signing of Eric Cantona for £1.2m from Leeds United proved a masterstroke as the Frenchman was instrumental in the title victory, along with the likes of Gary Pallister, Denis Irwin, Ryan Giggs and Paul Ince.

Manchester United retained the trophy in the following campaign and romped to further titles in 1994, 1996, 1997, 1999, 2000, 2001 and 2003. More silverware was added to the Red Devils' burgeoning trophy cabinet with FA Cup success in 1994, 1996, 1999 and 2004, plus League Cup victories in 1992 and 2006. Perhaps the most memorable time in the club's history was the treble-winning season of 1999 when they added the European Champions League trophy to the league title and FA Cup.

Chelsea briefly broke their dominance with title wins in 2005 and 2006. But in the 2006/07 season, the Red Devils roared back to regain the Barclays Premiership.
They went one better in 2007/08, enjoying their most successful campaign since winning the treble. They saw off the challenge of Chelsea and Arsenal to win an exciting Barclays Premier League title race and defeated the Blues on penalties in the Champions League final after a 1-1 draw between the two sides in Moscow.

In 2008/09, Manchester United made it a hat-trick of titles, also winning the Carling Cup but narrowly missing out to Barcelona in the Champions League final. They retained the Carling Cup in 2010 but finished a point behind Chelsea in the Barclays Premier League after a tense race which went to the final day of the campaign.

However they recovered to reclaim the Barclays Premier League title in 2011, finishing nine points clear of Chelsea and Manchester City. They also reached the Champions League final, taking on Barcelona at Wembley but losing 3-1.

Manchester United expectations for 2011/2012 season:

Sir Alex Ferguson knew major work needed to be done to rebuild his Manchester United team at the end of last season and he has responded in style with his dealings in the transfer market so far this summer.

Ashley Young's arrival from Aston Villa comes swiftly after the signing of Phil Jones from Blackburn, with Atletico Madrid goalkeeper David de Gea also expected to move to Old Trafford along with a high-class midfield player.

This underlines what Ferguson will have known when he saw United outclassed by Barcelona in the Champions League Final at Wembley. The loss did not exactly do United a favour but it would have confirmed in his mind that the time had come to respond and address the fact that they were obviously on the wane.

Ferguson will obviously recruit a goalkeeper to replace Van der Sar and that is going to be a huge decision because Edwin was a major part of their success last season and has been for the last five years.

Sir Alex will also be aware of the challenges coming from elsewhere. United and Chelsea undoubtedly came back towards the pack last season and Manchester City may feel they will never have a better chance of winning the Premier League than next time around.