Over one million people paid to watch Manchester United's Premiership home matches last season, making the club the first to pass this milestone since the Premiership began in 1992.

United's aggregate attendance for their 19 home league games was 1,048,185, which meant they had an average gate of 55,168. The figure represents an increase of 0.61 per cent on season 1996-97.

And when the club's two FA Cup and four Champions League games are added, the aggregate attendance rises to 1,371,328.

Old Trafford's capacity was limited to just over 53,000 for the European Cup games and their average gate for all their home matches works out at 54,853.

Club spokesman Ken Ramsden revealed that Old Trafford is not big enough to cope with the demand for tickets and that all their games were sell-outs.

"For the 19 League fixtures, the two FA Cup games and the four UEFA Champions' League games, the total attendance is nearly 1.4 million," he said. "For the 25 games that gives us an average of just over 54,000.

"The point to add is that we almost always sell out on the first day of tickets going on sale," he added. "It certainly shows the interest in Manchester United, which has always been huge, remains huge."

The capacity crowds will have boosted United's already healthy bank balance yet further.

United clearly have the Midas touch and last year they announced record profits of £27.6 million, which made them the biggest and richest club in the world.

In March, United and long-term backers Sharp unveiled a new twoyear shirt sponsorship deal, which chairman Martin Edwards hailed as the "biggest club deal in British football".

They demonstrated their financial might this month when they agreed a club record fee of £10.75m for PSV Eindhoven defender Jaap Stam.

The club also agreed six new long-term contracts for players last season with each one believed to be worth around £1 million-a-year.

The total attendance for Premier League matches last season grew too. Eleven million people went to games last season, the first time that figure has been topped since the league was reduced to 20 clubs.

The average Premiership gate was up from 28,434 last season to 29,189, an increase of 2.65 per cent, as the crowds continued to flock back to football in the wake of the success of Euro '96.

The biggest increase was seen at Derby (up 62.7 per cent) as the club pushed for a European place following a move to their new Pride Park ground.

And promoted sides Barnsley (up 62.46 per cent), Bolton (up 53.88 per cent) and Crystal Palace (up 36.67 per cent) also showed large rises even though they went straight back down to the First Division.

Chelsea were up 21.85 per cent as renovation work was completed at Stamford Bridge, as were Sheffield Wednesday (up 11.74 per cent) and Wimbledon (up 10.02 per cent) also rose markedly.

The only losers were Tottenham (down 6.19 per cent) and Everton (down 2.24 per cent) as the former giants struggled to fight off relegation.

Peter Leaver, chief executive of the Premier League, said: "These figures, more than any others, show the continued success and popularity of the Premiership.

"It has been a great season, full of excitement and quality football, and it is good news to see that reflected in our attendances.

"The figures confirm the fact that our average attendances have risen by almost 38 per cent since the start of the Premiership in 1992-93, up from 21,125 to 29,189, and that we are now playing, on average, to 94 per cent of stadia capacity.