A look at the wage problem



In 2005, the Tottenham wage bill was £33 million compared to Chelsea £109 million, Manchester United £77 million, Arsenal £66 million, Liverpool £64 million and Manchester City £38 million.
Tottenham wages to turnover 46%.

In 2010, the situation was a Tottenham wage bill of £67 million, Chelsea £173 million, Manchester United £132 million, Manchester City £133 million, Liverpool £114 million and Arsenal £111 million. Tottenham wages to turnover 56%.

In 2014, the Tottenham wage bill was £100 million, Manchester United £215 million, Manchester City £205 million, Chelsea £193 million, Arsenal £166 million and Liverpool £144 million.
Tottenham wages to turnover 56%.

It should be noted that Tottenham Hotspur total income is £181 million, those who suggest we can afford the top players on top wages but choose not to do so simply don't know what they are talking about. There is a Premier League cap on how much money can be spent on wages from TV revenue so that won't have a great effect on our wage bill. Premier League rules were brought in to stop billionaire owners buying titles like Chelsea owner Roman Abramovich who has subsidised the Stamford Bridge silverware to the tune of £1 billion.

Tottenham are in a difficult situation as Harry Redknapp's remarks about Luka Modric a few years back highlighted. 


“You can’t say he is worth £40 million and want to pay him the wages of someone who is worth £5 million. You have to look after the boy.”

That sums up the problem Spurs have, £70,000-a-week is loose change to a top level footballer, that's £3.64 million a year plus bonuses. The commercial income of bigger clubs enables them to pay the wages to secure the best, Tottenham have to look at a lower bracket of player and have them perform above their wage to achieve anything. Unfortunately through a lack of attention to the mental side of a player before we buy them, we have had too many performing below the wage level.


We simply don't have the income to buy the players many fans would want us to buy because of their wages. A £30-million purchase is basically 1/6th of total income, add £100-million wages and the problem is clear. A player is paid for over the term of their contract but that also applies to previous purchases so while we may not pay £30 million in one go the amount we pay in instalment fees for previous transfers determines how much we have available to spend right now and in future windows.

If we have players who are not performing to or above their wage level then we have to improve them or sell them, keeping them holds us back. To this end, we have made a concerted effort to rid ourselves of the players who fall into that bracket using harsh measures. We have had to get tough so we have frozen players out and made it clear we will do it again.

Intended Wage Reduction Paulinho: £60,000-a-week, £3.12m per year
Capoue: £35,000-a-week, £1.8m per year
Holtby: £67,000-a-week, £3.5m per year - was on loan so partial wages were already off the books
Friedel: £34,000-a-week, £1.8m per year
Adebayor: £100,000-a-week, £5.2m per year
Soldado: £60,000-a-week, £3.12m per year
Chiriches: £25,000-a-week, £1.3m per year
Lennon: £55,000-a-week, £2.86m per year
Kaboul: £35,000-a-week, £1.8m per year
Stambouli: £30,000-a-week, £1.56m per year
Totals: £501,000-a-week, £26.06m per year

Actual Wages Saving
Paulinho: £60,000-a-week, £3.12m per year
Capoue: £35,000-a-week, £1.8m per year
Holtby: £67,000-a-week, £3.5m per year - was on loan so partial wages were already off the books
Friedel: £34,000-a-week, £1.8m per year
Kaboul: £35,000-a-week, £1.8m per year
Totals: £231,000-a-week, £12.02m per year

given we don't know the percentage of his wages Hamburg were subsidising for Lewis Holtby, I have used his full Tottenham salary. The majority of Spurs wages taken from Spurs Stat Man who can be found easily on Twitter.

There are two likely deals on the cards at the moment, Benjamin Stambouli to PSG looks certain and Vlad Chiriches to Galatasaray is a strong possibility. They would see a further £55,000-a-week deducted, £2.86m per year. Recently Andros Townsend was on £10,000-a-week (£520,000 per year) before jumping to £35,000-a-week (£1.8m per year) so I will assume for the purposes of this article that Dele Alli is on £10,00-a-week wages.

Incoming Players
Kieran Trippier: £35,000-a-week, £1.82m per year
Kevin Wimmer: £30,000-a-week, £1.56m per year
Toby Alderweireld: £75,000-a-week, £3.9m per year
Dele Alli: £10,000-a-week, £520,000 per year
Totals: £150,000-a-week, £7.8m per year


Our wage saving thus far is £81,000-a-week, £4.22m per year, which isn't going to take us to the next level. We still need the confirmed departure of Stambouli and the sale of Chiriches, Lennon and Adebayor.

We like to consider Spurs a big club, financially we are not and thus we have to punch above our weight, the fact that we finish 5th regularly is a testament to where we are at. The cry of we should have spent is fantasy talk, the money hasn't been there to do so in the way fans would like.

The reality is we have to cut our cloth and try and overachieve, to that end we have got right behind Mauricio Pochettino, perhaps in a way we have not got behind any head coach in the Daniel Levy era.

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