Wage bills and success

Using figures from Deloitte this Liverpool fan site makes a comparison between the wage bills of Manchester United and Liverpool and shows that the differences are relatively small over a ten year period.   The writer points out that Spurs managed to finish fourth with a wage bill that was £56m smaller than that of Liverpool.

Using figures from Deloitte this Liverpool fan site makes a comparison between the wage bills of Manchester United and Liverpool and shows that the differences are relatively small over a ten year period.   The writer points out that Spurs managed to finish fourth with a wage bill that was £56m smaller than that of Liverpool.


The relationship between wage bills and success is an imperfect one.  One doesn’t have to be a Manchester United fan to accept that Sir Alex Ferguson is a first rate manager: good at spotting talent and developing them and, above all, welding talented players into a team that plays for each other.  Similarly, Harry Redknapp is a past master at wheeling and dealing in the transfer market and at motivating players.   Many fans would like to see him become the next England manager.   Keen Liverpool fans would accept that over the same period they have had some indifferent managers, although now the club is entering a new phase in its history.


Having said that, wages do have something to do with success.   If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.   A successful player will be able to command higher wages elsewhere.   In that sense, the labour market in football works fairly efficently.   But it is also possible to pay good wages to someone who turns out to be a donkey.    It is then often difficult for a club to swallow their pride and sell him at a loss and it may be difficult to secure a loan deal.    For his part the player is not going to want to take a cut in wages.


In my own experience one way to get rid of under performing staff is to buy them out.   That can be expensive, but in football it can be prohibitively expensive.   So one has to pay competitive wages, but one may not always get value for money.   It is here that the skill of the manager (and the back up of a first rate scouting system) becomes paramount.   But even top managers sometimes make poor buys.