REPORT REVEALS WORRYING TREND By Simon Stone, PA Chief Sports Reporter

Accountants Deloitte and Touche have unveiled their latest report into the riches on offer within English football.

And, while at the top level at least it seems as though the game is entering boom time, underneath there are worrying signs that all is not well.

Jason Zilwood, part of the Deloitte and Touche football industry team who compiled the ninth annual assessment of the English game, outlined what his company believed was the maximum amount of cash as a ratio to turnover which could safely be spent in the long-term interests of the football club.

"Any club with a wage-turnover ratio of 50% or less is being carefully managed and will be financially strong for the future," he said.

"Anything over 66% is unlikely to be sustainable in the long term."

However, in the 1998-99 season, only four clubs - Manchester United, Sunderland, Aston Villa and Leeds - achieved the magical figure of 50% or under, with an amazing 17 actually spending more on wages than they earned in revenue across the whole of the football club.

Here PA Sport lists the 85 professional clubs in England who reported back to Deloitte and Touche and where they stand in the wage-turnover league table.

CLUBS WHOSE WAGES ACCOUNT FOR 50% OR LESS OF TURNOVER

Manchester United 33%

Sunderland 42%

Aston Villa 48%

Leeds 50%

CLUBS WHOSE WAGES ACCOUNT FOR BETWEEN 51% and 65.9% OF TURNOVER

Charlton 51%

Tottenham 51%

Chelsea 51%

Walsall 53%

Arsenal 54%

Manchester City 54%

Newcastle 55%

Preston 56%

Gillingham 57%

Derby 65%

Wycombe 65%

CLUBS WHOSE WAGES ACCOUNT FOR BETWEEN 66% and 99.9% OF TURNOVER

Huddersfield 66%

West Ham 67%

Leicester 67%

Plymouth 67%

West Brom 68%

Nottingham Forest 69%

Middlesbrough 69%

Bristol Rovers 69%

Leyton Orient 69%

Coventry 70%

Wolves 70%

Sheff Wed 71%

Cambridge 73%

Birmingham 74%

Bristol City 75%

Ipswich 75%

Torquay 75%

Oxford 76%

Burnley 76%

Scunthorpe 76%

Wimbledon 78%

Chesterfield 78%

Wrexham 79%

Carlisle 79%

Everton 80%

Liverpool 80%

Crewe 80%

Bolton 80%

Stoke 81%

Cardiff 81%

Watford 83%

Colchester 83%

Southampton 84%

Blackpool 86%

Lincoln 86%

Exeter 86%

Swansea 86%

Stockport 90%

Bury 91%

Oldham 91%

Norwich 92%

Barnsley 93%

Grimsby 93%

York 95%

Rochdale 97%

Notts County 98%

CLUBS WHOSE WAGES COST 100% OF TURNOVER OR MORE

Millwall 100%

Shrewsbury 100%

Rotherham 104%

Tranmere 105%

Blackburn 106%

Reading 106%

Sheffield Utd 118%

Peterborough 118%

Port Vale 123%

Southend 123%

Fulham 128%

QPR 141% - An estimate has been used to exclude Wasps RU from the joint accounts submitted

Brentford 161%

Darlington 181%

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Answers

Where are Chelsea on this list? their wage bill must be huge!

Mind you they don't have to present accounts do they since they're owned by the triads....

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Gav - they are only 51% amazingly.

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

This doesn't worry as much as it would if I was a Boro suppoter!

Due to our squad trimming which is in full swing things will hopefully get even better. Boro have signed Karembeu and Boksic and they must be on 40k plus at least!

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

Boksic allegedly on 62K..

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

*DOH* missed Chelsea on the list....still reckon they're owned by the triads though ;))

This doesn't seem that worrying does it.....especially since YBR has trimmed some of the chaff from the squad....

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000

If Chelsea fail to make the Champions League, or even the latter stages of the Champions League, that percentage figure would shoot up. They're banking on people paying well over the odds for glamour football, and it's obviously working at the moment, but it's on a knife edge.

ManU, Leeds and Villa are benefiting from the good crop of youngsters coming through. Sunderland are benefiting from the inability to attract any high earning players to Wearside ;-)

-- Anonymous, August 16, 2000