200m pound crew: Which Premier League club spends most on its players?

An interesting insight on the wage-bills of the top Premier League clubs. . . 

There are not that many teams that can boast having a wage-bill of £200 m worldwide. Recently, Liverpool have joined this club. The financial accounts submitted by Liverpool for the 2015/16 Premier League season came with a little shock. Liverpool FC’s wage-bill was £208.3 m; a £42.2 m increase on the previous season.

Rewinding the clock back to the 2011/12 season. This was the first time a team in the Premier League crossed £200 m in wage spending. With a wage-bill of £201.8 m, Manchester City became the first team to cross that mark. They went even further the following season and increased their wage-bill to £233.1 m. The team with a wage-bill that was closest to Man City was their city rivals Manchester United. With a wage-bill of £180.5m, Man United had the second highest wages in the league during the 2012/13 season, that, of course, didn’t stop them from winning the league that year.

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The second team with a wage-bill that crossed £200 m was Manchester United. Following their triumph in 2012/13, Sir Alex Ferguson left and David Moyes replaced him. They made a few signings, and the wages increased to £214.8 m making them the team with the highest wage-bill. Chelsea were to join the crew the following season. In the year they were to be crowned champions, Chelsea saw their wage-bill increase by £20 m from the previous year to £215.7 m. Similar to Manchester United the previous season and Manchester City two seasons before that, this increase earned Chelsea the rank of highest wage-bill in the Premier League.

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This brings us back to the 2015/16 season. Well, not only did Liverpool join the exclusive crew, this season also marked the first time the Premier League had more than two teams with wages greater than £200 m. Liverpool’s £208.3 m comes in at third, Chelsea with £222.4 m at second and Manchester United with £232.2 m at first.

History of the #1 Wage-Bill in the Premier League

Season	#1 Wage Bill (£m)	Team
94/95	13.45	Manchester United
95/96	19.75	Newcastle United
96/97	21.85	Manchester United
97/98	30.13	Liverpool
98/99	36.97	Manchester United
99/00	48.77	Chelsea
00/01	51.71	Chelsea
01/02	70.00	Manchester United
02/03	79.52	Manchester United
03/04	115.57	Chelsea
04/05	108.89	Chelsea
05/06	114.00	Chelsea
06/07	132.82	Chelsea
07/08	171.62	Chelsea
08/09	165.61	Chelsea
09/10	172.55	Chelsea
10/11	189.54	Chelsea
11/12	201.79	Manchester City
12/13	233.11	Manchester City
13/14	214.80	Manchester United
14/15	215.65	Chelsea
15/16	232.20	Manchester United

 

The first data we have is from the 1994-95 Premier League season. During this year, Manchester United had the highest wages with £13.45 m.

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Since then, only 4 other teams have had the highest wages in the Premier League; Newcastle United, Liverpool, Chelsea and Manchester City. Newcastle United had the highest wages when the Premier League moved to a 20-team league. Besides Newcastle, the other clubs are all the clubs that are part of the £200 m crew.

Chelsea are the cash-kings having appeared as number one wage-bill on 11 occasions with Manchester United in 2nd with 7 appearances.