Manchester United's tumultuous season has taken another nosedive with news the club's value has plummeted by a quarter of a billions pounds in the last four weeks.

As string of woeful results - including three defeats in a week for the first time since 1992 - have taken their toll on the business as David Moyes struggles to maintain United title's defence.

The Glazer family took control at Old Trafford in 2005 and have saddled the club with huge amounts of debt to finance the purchase. In the last five years they have paid £400million in interest alone.

And the recent string of poor results means the share price has dropped by £250m to £1.5billion.

United could withstand the one-off loss of the £29m they received from UEFA for last season's campaign in the Champions League, but a prolonged absence would have serious knock-on effects.

Not least of the problems would be the threat to deals such as its retail partnership with sportswear group Nike, which pays United a minimum of £25m a year for the sale of two million replica shirts around the globe.

Those sales helped to earn United an additional £12.8m from the agreement last year.

And though Nike is expected to renew its deal in the next few months, the team's recent decline could weaken the club's bargaining position.