First Class Concepts Watch Premier League Wages Climb to New Heights

June 1, 2012 - PRLog -- First Class Concepts, a direct marketing and sales company based in Glasgow, has watched the highs and lows of the Premier League season with interest. But it seems that post-season revelations are just as surprising.  Deloitte has released its annual report showing that while many people around the country are seeing stagnant wages or even pay cuts, the same cannot be said for the footballers.

For the first time ever First Class Concepts understands, 70% of the income of some Premier League clubs has been taken up by the salaries of their players. The figures between clubs differs wildly with Premier League runners-up Manchester United spending 46% of their revenue on salaries. However, Premier League winners Manchester City spent a whopping 114%. The total wages across the Premier League grew by £201m, 14 per cent, which saw a total of £1.6bn being spent on salaries. The biggest spender on salaries was Chelsea at £191m.

How does First Class Concepts feel about the latest figures? A representative of the company said, “Whilst we’re largely unsurprised, this trend has been happening for years now, it’s still pretty shocking and we believe that it is unsustainable.” The report by Deloitte said that controlling wages “continues to be football’s greatest commercial challenge.”

The report shows the Premier League to be in good shape, with a combined revenue of £2.9bn, and more than 90% of seats were sold across the league in 2011-12. That said First Class Concepts was unsurprised to read in the report that match day revenues have remained pretty constant over the past five season due to the tough financial situation. The direct marketing company believes that clubs will have to start looking elsewhere for revenue if wages continue to grow.

The representative for First Class Concepts concluded, “Whilst the Premier League, one of the most watched leagues in the world, continues to look in relatively good shape there is an increasing backlash against clubs and players about wages. People are tightening their belts across the country and many find it frustrating to see players and agents fighting it out for an extra £10,000 a week. At First Class Concepts we feel that the bubble is going to burst at some point and clubs will have to stop paying out such huge amounts of money.”

First Class Concepts is a direct sales and marketing company based in Glasgow. For more information visit http://www.firstclassconcepts.com