by Briony Hale BBC News Online business reporter

It's time to face up to facts - Manchester United are simply the best.

Well, financially speaking anyway.

United, one of the few clubs to have turned success on the pitch into money in the bank, has just reported record earnings.

Mixed fortunes: six month results

Newcastle United �1.4m loss Leeds United �13.8m loss Manchester United �30.9m profit

The English football champions chalked up pre-tax profits of �30.9m in the six months to 31 January, a rise of 79% over the same period the previous year.

The profit figures were boosted by the sale of Jaap Stam for �16.5m to Lazio, and Andy Cole's �8m transfer to Blackburn.

But the financial gap between United and most other clubs is growing ever wider, with United's success standing in stark contrast to the dismal losses racked up by the likes of Leeds and Newcastle United.

So when the clear winner of football's financial league begins to make warning sounds about future balance sheets, it's time to worry.

Crippling wages

The reason for United's warning is the perennial problem of players wages.

The club forked out a cool �50m in total for top players such as Juan Sebastian Veron and Ruud van Nistelrooy last year, and with big transfer fees come big wages.

Veron: Britain's most expensive footballer

The secret of Manchester United's past financial success has been that the combined salaries of its players have remained a relatively low proportion of its revenues.

But the club is now warning that the likes of Mr Veron means its wage bill will eat up half its revenues this year, compared with 39% a year earlier.

Manchester United has a strong advantage in keeping the crucial wages-revenues percentage down.

Its turnover is far bigger than any other British club - thanks to its strong combination of ticket sales, television and merchandise turnover.

With one of the biggest fan clubs in the world, merchandise and ticket sales are not showing any signs of waning.

Indeed, the club has just hired brand guru Roy Gardiner - famed for British Gas, the Goldfish credit card and the AA - as its new chairman.

TV squeeze

And the Premiership clubs are not facing the prospect of a sudden drop in television money, unlike those clubs in the Nationwide Football League currently in dispute with ITV Digital.

"You have to distinguish between the Football League and the Premier League," chief executive Peter Kenyon told BBC Breakfast News.

Manchester United are the biggest TV draw both domestically and internationally

Peter Kenyon Man Utd chief executive

"The Premier League is in the first year of a three-year deal, attendances are up and there is no sign that television audiences are declining."

"Manchester United are the biggest TV draw both domestically and internationally."

While that's all very well for United, it makes the struggle to avoid relegation from the Premiership all the more critical.

Far greater worries