Premier players hit 1bn jackpot - Europe left behind by huge hike

Revenues generated by clubs during the 2006-07 season totalled more than £1.5bn, an increase of 11 per cent on the previous season and a figure which dwarfs the four other big European leagues. Germany and Spain were the closest with revenues of £900million.

High earner: Michael Ballack

Deloitte expect the Premier League figure to exceed £2bn a year before the end of the decade because the cash bonanza from last summer's new broadcasting deal has already started to flow in. With runaway revenues come spiralling wages. The average pre-tax salary for a Premier League footballer was £1m ( £19,000 per week) in 2006 - 7, compared with £210,000 for a player in the Championship.

Premier League wages for players and staff were up 13 per cent to £949m and will have passed £1bn last season when the TV money started to appear in club accounts.

Chelsea reported the biggest wage increase in 2006-07, up £19m as they signed Andriy Shevchenko and Michael Ballack on deals worth more than £125,000 a week and rewarded established players with new contracts after back-to- back Premier League titles.

Other major increases were recorded by West Ham (£13m), Portsmouth (£12m) and Newcastle (£10m) - three clubs trying to bridge the yawning gap to the Big Four, who command extra revenues from the Champions League.

Pompey's wage bill jumped by 49 per cent, the biggest for a non-promoted club since the arrival of Roman Abramovich at Chelsea in 2003. The investment was rewarded with two of the best seasons in the club's history, finishing ninth and eighth and winning the FA Cup. The achievements of West Ham and Newcastle did not match their investment. West Ham were almost relegated and Newcastle struggled on.

Transfer spending also soared. The record £492m in 2006-07 was smashed last season when £600m was paid for players, most of it going overseas. The vast wealth of England's top division means the mid-table teams can compete financially with bigger sides in Europe in terms of transfer fees and salaries, leaving players to choose between the money and the medals.

If money talks there will be no end to the surge of foreign players unless FIFA president Sepp Blatter successfully imposes a quota system for homegrown players.

When the influx of foreign owners started in English football there was a suspicion they would prioritise profits but Deloitte suggest their motives mirror those of the traditional owners of English clubs.

Modern owners are still prepared to ignore normal business practices and indulge their fans by spending to strengthen the team, although West Ham are now belt-tightening after the excesses of the brief Eggert Magnusson era. The Premier League's wagesto- turnover ratio is 63 per cent, a figure Deloitte say remains 'reasonably comfortable'.

Dan Jones, of Deloitte's Sports Business Group, said: 'As in prior decades, we are seeing clubs treated as "trophy assets", except with clubs now owned by billionaires from a range of nationalities rather than local businessmen.'