After Tottenham Hotspur released their 2016/17 financial results, let’s take a look at how the big-six Premier League teams compare in terms of wages.
Twitter user Swiss Ramble has done a great job of breaking down the results in full, but we’re focusing on the wage bills of each of the big-six clubs in particular.
For each club, we’ll look at the amount spent on player wages, and what percentage of their total turnover that constitutes. Then we’ll also look at the amount they’re each spending on directors, to see how that compares.
3Chelsea
- Wage bill: £220m (3rd in the Premier League)
- Wage bill as percentage of turnover: 61% (8th in the Premier League)
- Highest paid director: £0.308m (13th in the Premier League)
Ahead of Liverpool and Arsenal are Chelsea, but surprisingly there’s not that far away. The gap from 3rd to 5th is just £21m, less than a third of the £72m gap from 5th to 6th. It seems like the days when Roman Abramovich would come in and bankroll another load of signings on massive money are starting to disappear behind us.
Nonetheless, Chelsea are still spending a greater percentage of the money they make on wages than any other big-six club. That still only leaves them in 8th overall in the league, again because the big-six are bringing in so much more money.
Their highest paid director is on a surprisingly small amount, with only four of the clubs who have published accounts paying less.