Blues in a spending league of their own

CHELSEA are the biggest spenders on wages in the world, but the other 19 Premier League clubs are for the first time spending less overall on players’ pay, according to an annual review of football finance.

The report by Deloitte says that across 19 of the 20 Premier League clubs, the total wage bill for 2003-04 was 1% lower than the previous year.

Even with Chelsea included, the total Premiership wage bill went up only 7% from £761m (€1.14 billion) to £811m (€1.2bn) - the lowest growth rate since the formation of the Premier League in 1992, and well below the staggering average annual rate of 23% over the previous decade.