English Premiership football clubs have managed to rein in their wage bills for the first time, figures released yesterday showed. While top-flight players in England continue to earn more than their European counterparts, Premiership clubs' total wage bills fall by 3.2 per cent in the 2004/'05 season.
The figures, which do not take into account the recently announced £1.7 billion broadcasting rights deal for Premiership matches, show top clubs paying out £785 million on wages in 2004/'05 - the most recent season for which figures are available.
The total was down from £811 million a year before, figures published by Deloitte & Touche's Sports Business Group show.
The drop suggests efforts to stem the tide of wage inflation may have been paying off. Previous years had seen average rises of 20 per cent since the Premiership was set up in 1992, with slower growth in recent years, Deloitte said.
Dan Jones, a partner in the Sports Business Group, said: "Our latest analysis further supports the improving balance between revenue and costs, not just in England, but also across Europe. The need to "save clubs from themselves" with a salary cap now seems far less important than it did five years ago."
Premier League clubs remained by far the biggest earners in world soccer and were the most profitable in Europe, generating more than €1.9 billion in revenue.
The big five leagues in England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France generated revenues of €6.3 billion , a growth of eight per cent on the previous year.
However, only clubs in the Premier League (€240 million) and the Bundesliga (€65 million) posted operating profits in 2004/5.
While the Premiership remained the biggest earner in Europe, revenue growth in England was just one per cent to £1.3 billion, compared with leaps of 17 per cent in Germany and 16 per cent in Italy.
The £1.7 billion deal unveiled last month by BSkyB and Setanta for Premier League audio-visual rights - represented a 65 per cent increase from Sky's exclusive broadcasting deal struck three years ago.
Figures, due to be released next month in Deloitte's annual Football Finance report, show a projected rise in Premiership revenues to £1.72 billion in the 2007-'08 season compared with £1.33 billion for the 2004/'05 season.
Alan Switzer, senior consultant in the Sports Business Group, said the expected hike in club revenues was likely to lead to further wage rises but said that clubs faced a balancing act.
"Based on historical evidence it would suggest they would go up but we think that conditions have changed significantly over the last few years."
He said a combination of factors seemed to be behind the fall, with some clubs opting for younger and less expensive players, others taking players on loan rather than choosing expensive contracts and an element linking pay to performance on the pitch.
While Chelsea led the field in spending on players, it was one of two top clubs in England to report an operating loss during the season in question - alongside Fulham.
Manchester United made the biggest operating profits, £33 million, but Liverpool's Champion's League triumph helped them close the gap, with operating profits of £25 million, Deloitte said.
