Story · Match programme · No 16

The short version, in eight cards

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Match programme · No 16

Football's new cap is highest for the richest

You hear "cap" and picture one line for everybody. This one is 85% of what each club earns. Manchester City gets £590m, Bournemouth £155m.

21 Sep 2026 · 5 min read · 17 sources
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Match programme · No 16 2 / 8
THE MONEY

£6.8bn in. £4.4bn out.

4,400 £m to Wages
Matchday 1,000 Broadcast 3,400 Commercial 2,400 Football revenue 6,800 Wages 4,400 Everything else the clubs spend or keep 2,400
  1. Matchday to Football revenue 1,000 first time above £1bn
  2. Broadcast to Football revenue 3,400 shared nearly equally
  3. Commercial to Football revenue 2,400 not shared between clubs
  4. Football revenue to Wages 4,400 65% of revenue
  5. Football revenue to Everything else the clubs spend or keep 2,400 transfer fees and running the club

£6.8bn in. £4.4bn out.

Source · Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance 2026 · 8 July 2026

Match programme · No 16 3 / 8
WHERE IT COMES FROM

Bournemouth's money is the shared money

Broadcast Matchday Commercial Bournemouth
Team, % MatchdayBroadcastCommercial
Manchester City 114049
Liverpool 173846
Arsenal 224038
Manchester United 242650
Aston Villa 106525
West Ham 175825
Bournemouth 48215

The ceiling depends on revenue, so where does it come from? Three streams, and the league shares only one.

Source · The Swiss Ramble, club accounts 2024/25

Match programme · No 16 4 / 8
WHAT WAGES TAKE

Wages against revenue, seven clubs

%
86.8 Bournemouth

So the smallest earner leans hardest on shared money. Now look at what wages alone take from each club.

Source · The Swiss Ramble and Deloitte · 2024/25

Match programme · No 16 5 / 8
THE DENOMINATOR

The line falls as revenue rises

124.7 Bournemouth
80 100 120 200 400 600 Liverpool Manchester City Arsenal Manchester United Aston Villa West Ham Bournemouth Manchester CityManchester UnitedAston VillaWest HamBournemouth Revenue, 2024/25 (£m) Squad cost, % of revenue Smallest revenue. Highestratio. Same rule.
80 100 120 200 400 600 Liverpool Manchester City Arsenal Manchester United Aston Villa West Ham Bournemouth Manchester CityManchester UnitedWest HamBournemouth Revenue, 2024/25 (£m) Squad cost, % of revenue Smallest revenue.Highest ratio. Samerule.

Wages are only part of a squad's cost, so add the transfer fees, spread over the contracts. Aston Villa already breaks UEFA's tighter 70% version, on The Swiss Ramble's reading.

Source · The Swiss Ramble, club accounts 2024/25, and UEFA

Match programme · No 16 6 / 8
WHERE THE LOSSES CAME FROM

Wages barely moved. Losses grew sevenfold.

Pre-tax losses, 2024/25
£948m
Wages as a share of revenue
65%
Clubs in operating profit
8
Total revenue
£6.8bn

Those dots are already over the line, but the losses came from elsewhere. Aston Villa's £17m profit came from selling its women's team and property rights for £114m, not from football.

Source · Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance 2026 and The Swiss Ramble

Match programme · No 16 7 / 8
HOW IT PASSED

The clubs voted this in themselves

2024
Clubs agree to explore a hard cap
2025
Squad Cost Ratio approved. The hard cap fails
2026
Deloitte counts £948m of losses
The rule binds. PSR is gone

Wages were not the problem, yet the new rule targets wages plus transfer fees. Here is how it arrived.

Source · Premier League, Deloitte, The Swiss Ramble

Match programme · No 16 8 / 8
The whole issue

That's the short version.

9 sections
17 sources, linked
5 minutes
Still in the issue
  • Cap sounds like
  • Vocabulary
  • Amount not
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