Is Manchester United still a strong brand?

With changes in the top management, the season has not been a stellar one for the Manchester United football team and its fans. Due to poor performance, this was also the first time in 24 years  that the English football team missed out on entering the European competition next season.A recent study done by brand valuation consultancy Brand Finance, titled “The Brand Finance Football 50 2014 Infographic”, saw the club drop US$98 million in brand value following the season. Currently, the team is worth US$739 million.However, despite the drop the the football team comes in at third as the most valuable brand behind Germans Bayern Munich (US$896 million) and Spaniards Real Madrid (US$768).Check out the stats below:[gallery link="file" ids="50760,50761,50762"]Fans still optimisticDespite the rocky ride for the team, fans seem optimistic for the future of the group. Dinesh Charles, 46 said that as an ardent football fan he sees brand value fluctuating year in year out, depending on the team's performance every three to five years."If you're an ardent supporter, it makes no difference as you support the team, not the management. With that being said, Manchester United is still the most marketable team in the world, regardless of its brand value at this point in time. All their sponsorships are world records for football,” said Charles.Meanwhile, university student Prhabagaran Ramanathan, 25 added that while their marketing definitely suffered this season due to the manager and the performance on field, what this shows is that ultimately it boils down to how you are performing at your core skill."With so many deterring factors, I think the board is finally making a change and it seems like they're going back to the old ways of a "football first" mentality.”Seth Lim, 28 said: “I have been supporting the brand all my life. It doesn’t mean that if they hit a bump I'll ridicule them. I’m sure they will be back on top soon. It's a global brand. As a supporter you don’t really care if their value dropped because you just want to see them play well.”