The common complaint today from the hard-pressed football supporter that the game is all about money is much closer to the truth than many would think.
English football's income for 1999/2000 grew by £128 million sterling (€203 million) to £1,078 million - making English football the richest league in the world and the first to break through the billion pound barrier.
But while the Premier League put on a thrilling showpiece curtain-raiser to the new season in last Sunday's charity shield match between Liverpool and Manchester United - two of the richest clubs in English football - the truth is that English soccer is losing money.
Losses mounted as wages soared and the gap between rich and poor clubs widened, Deloitte & Touche said in its annual review of football finance.
While television income helped fuel a 13 per cent rise in revenues in the 1999/2000 season, the combined pre-tax loss from England's 92 professional clubs more than doubled to £145 million.
Even the Premier League clubs are not immune - pre-tax profits of £13.7 million for the Premier League clubs in 1998/1999 turned into a pre-tax loss of £34.5 million in 1999/2000. Combined losses of the football league clubs in the lower divisions worsened, from £75.3 million to £110.1 million.
In 1999/2000, just 18 clubs in the whole English game were profitable - the majority of these were in the Premier League.
"Whilst English professional football has generated massive income increases in the last decade, this has been more than matched by the clubs' ability to spend it," Gerry Boon, head of Deloitte & Touche Sport, said in the report.
Wages are football's greatest challenge, according to Mr Boon. Total wage bills for playing and administrative staff were £747 million, representing 69 per cent of total turnover. Seven out of every 10 clubs now have a total wage bill in excess of 70 per cent of their income. Sixteen clubs had wage bills that exceeded income.
Premier League champions Manchester United, Leeds United and First Division outfit Watford were the only clubs to spend under 50 per cent of turnover on wages.
The gap between the Premier League clubs and the other divisions is growing. Recent signings by Manchester United of Ruud van Nistelrooy and Juan Veron for a combined £47 million illustrates the vast gulf that has emerged between the larger and smaller clubs.
The Premier League generated £772 million last year, while the other 72 clubs from divisions one to three made revenues of just £306 million between them.
"Our estimates suggest that by 2002/03, 20 Premier League clubs will share around £1.5 billion a year - about twice their 1999/2000 turnover and almost £1 billion more income than the 72 football league clubs," Deloitte & Touche said. With the average income differential between a Premier League and Division One club likely to grow to over £60 million, the average Premier League club will be five and a half times the size of its Division One counterpart," it said.
Italian club Juventus yesterday said it planned to float next spring.
