For some time now, there have been talks about a salary cap in the English Premier League. Something, most of the clubs and players are arguing against. The last couple of weeks, Great Dane Football Blog, have been putting focus on the wages in the league, to find out if money wins trophies. Today, we have reached the final part.

The wages in the English Premier League are getting higher and higher, and Chelsea and Manchester City are often blamed for ruining football by spending much more than other clubs. The two clubs are in the top 5 of the richest clubs in England, but who are the others? Watch the clip below to get the answer.

According to Forbes’ list, the five clubs are all in the top 10 of richest clubs in the world. Spanish Real Madrid is positioned first with a value of 3.3 billion dollars, just ahead of Manchester United, second with 3,165 billion dollars. Arsenal is placed fourth on the list while Chelsea is seventh, Manchester City ninth and Liverpool tenth.

With help from The Telegraphs graphic of the Premier League spending of wages and transfers from 2001-2012, and The Guardians datablog, Great Dane Football Blog have gone through and compared the clubs spending on wages. Manchester City was latest promoted to the Premier League in 2002, so we start with the 2002/03 season. Watch the clip below to see how the spending on wages has developed.

Now that, we have answered the question, let’s take a look on how the wages are spent in the Premier League. The salary data used in the clip below are from the website matchincome.com, and while the website does not state where they have their data from other than it is a reliable source, they seem to tally up with the data found on the Guardian and the Telegraph earlier. It is important to remember that the data used only shows the basic salary and does not include any bonuses. Watch the clip below to see which player have earned most per match, and which club that has gotten most out of their money. Please note, that the film only uses match data from the Premier League 2012/13.

What do you think about the things you have seen in this post? Does the Premier League need a salary cap, and do the players deserve the money they get? Comment below!

Other parts of this series:

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

Part 5

Earlier in the 'Does money guarantee trophies?'-series we took a look on whom the best paid players in the Premier League are. This week, we will see how much the players have earned per match, and for the strikers per goal. The data used in this project is taken from Matchincome.com, and only displays the basic salary without any bonuses. The website does not state where they have their data from, but compared with the data from the guardian and the telegraph, used earlier in the series, the numbers tally up. Please note that the tables can be hard to read, I apologize for that! To see the tables in their original state, follow this link!

The table below shows how many matches each of the goalkeepers has played in the Barclays Premier League 2012/13. Furthermore, it shows how much the players have earned annually as well as per match played. Please note that goalkeepers that have not played a match this season has been let out of the data set.

On the chart below, it is easier to see what they players have earned per performance. While Chelsea paid a big salary compared to Paulo Ferreira's numbers of matches, Liverpool is the club getting the most value for their money with Daniel Agger. The Dane has an annual income of £541,270, and with 35 performances in the Premier League this year, it means that he has earned £15,465 per match.

We have now come to the midfielders, some of the most important players on the pitch. The best midfielders are also some of the highest paid, so it is going to be interesting to see if the clubs get value for their money. With only 2 matches and an annual salary of £520,024, Manchester United's 19-year old talent Nick Powell is the best paid midfielder. Meanwhile, the talent also contributed with one goal.

As you can see in the table as well as in the chart below Manchester United, is also the team getting the most value for the money with Michael Carrick, while Arsenal's Aaron Ramsey is the midfielder who has earned least per match played. Take a look at the chart to get the full view.


Finally, we have come to the attackers - the players that have a decisive influence on the match. How much do they earn per performance, and per goal based on the basic salary? As we want to see how much a goal is worth compared to the basic salary the goalscorer has been included in the table. Notice, once again that players that have not played and not scored have not been included.


Watching the table and comparing with the other positions on the pitch, it is clear that strikers are often playing close to the same number of matches, no matter what club they represent. The club that has gotten most value for the money when it comes to salary and matches played is Arsenal. Here, Olivier Giroud has played 34 matches, and with an annual wage of £510,919 it means he has earned £15,027 per match.


Meanwhile, if we compare the salary of the players with the numbers of goals scored, Manchester United and Liverpool are the two clubs getting most out of their money. In Manchester United, Robin van Persie has scored 26 goals this season, earning him £22,491 per goal while Luis Suarez with 23 goals has earned £23,753 per goal. Meanwhile, if we compare the salary with the amount of goals Fabio Borini's one goal for Liverpool in the Barclay Premier League has been a very valuable goal: £533,176! After all, football is about scoring goals!


The stats used for the Premier League matches can be found here:

Arsenal

Chelsea

Liverpool

Manchester City

Manchester United

Last week we took a look on the best paid player in each of the 5 richest Premier League clubs; Manchester United, Chelsea, Arsenal, Liverpool, and Manchester City. Arsenal's Jack Wilshere is the best paid player of all the five clubs while surprisingly, Edin Džeko is the worst paid of the best paid.

This week we take a look on whom the best paid goalkeeper, defender, midfielder and striker are in each club. Chelsea is the club spending the most money on their goalkeepers. Petr Čech is the best paid goalkeeper both in Chelsea and of the five clubs. In fact, Petr Čech and the two reserves Ross Turnbull and Henrique Hilário are the three best paid goalkeepers of all the investigated players. Quite surprisingly, the research shows that Anders Lindegaard, Manchester United's reserve keeper actually has a better salary that David de Gea. However, you must remember that the numbers we are working with here, is the basic salary why we can't tell if other players are better paid when it comes to bonuses. The chard also shows, that once again, Manchester City is the club paying the smallest wage!

Among the defenders, Chelsea is also the club paying the highest salary. Veteran John Terry makes an £624.400 annually, almost £22.000 more than United's Patrice Evra as the second highest paid. While the two richest clubs in the Premier League is paying more than £600.000 annually to their best paid defender, Liverpool, Arsenal and Manchester City stays under the £600.000 mark. Once again, Manchester City is the clubs paying less in salary.

As we know from last week, Jack Wilshere is the best paid player in the 5 clubs why it is no surprise that he is also the best paid midfielder. Just after him comes the three veterans Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Ryan Giggs. The worst paid of the best paid midfielder's is once again a Manchester City player: Yaya Toure. The chart gives an impression that the routined players as Frank Lampard, Steven Gerrard and Ryan Giggs is very valuable, but at the same time it makes sense given their many years in the league.

Last thing today is the strikers. Arsenal brought in Lukas Podolski when Robin van Persie left for Manchester United, and the German is taking his share of the wages in the club. Almost £700.000 is spent annually on Lukas Podolski. That is almost £250.000 more than the worst of the best paid strikers, Daniel Sturridge, earns annually.

What do you think about the wages shown in the article? Are footballers paid too much, and do they deserve the money? Do you have any facts or figures you want to share with Great Dane Football Blog? Comment below or send us a Facebook message!

For some time, there has been talks about a salary cap in the English Premier League. Something, most of the clubs are arguing against. For the next couple of weeks,  Great Dane Football Blog will put focus on the wages in the Premier League and find out if they have any impact on the club's chances of winning trophies.

This week we take a look on the top five clubs in the Premier League and how their wages has developed since the 2002/03 season and until the 2010/11 season.


As the chart clearly shows the amount of money spent on wages has gone through a massive development since 2002. The money spent on wages has gone up with £491.4m between 2002 and 2011. It can be argued that Manchester City and Chelsea play the leading roles in this as they are the two clubs with most increase in wages during this time. When Manchester City was promoted   to the Premier League in 2002 they spent £35.3m on wages while, in 2011, the amount had gone up to £174m. Chelsea spent £54.4m in 2002 and just the year after the wages exploded when the Roman Abramovich took over the club. In 2003, Chelsea spent not less than £114.8m in 2003 and has since 2002 till 2011 increased their wages by £138.7m.

Meanwhile, the rest of the clubs have doubled their amount of money spent on wages, but none of them in such a way as Chelsea and Manchester City.

What do you think about the chart? Are Chelsea and Manchester City guilty in the increase in wages in the Premier League? Or does all of the clubs play a role?