Money’s not funny as Blues’ wage bill soars

CHELSEA’S annual wage bill has soared to €204.3m — almost €47.3m more than the next highest payers, Manchester City.

The figure for the year ending June 2010 is revealed in Chelsea’s full annual accounts and shows a significant increase on the previous year.

In 2009, the club spent €196.1m on wages but that sum included pay-offs worth €14.9m to sacked manager Luiz Felipe Scolari and his assistants. Excluding the pay-offs, the rise in wages is €23.1m and represents a 12.7% increase.