Premier League clubs spent 1.6bn on wages

The Guardian's annual special report of Premier League clubs' finances shows they spent £1.6 billion on wages last season, most of it to players. The wage bill accounted for 67 percent of clubs' turnover, a similar level to the two previous years - wages were 68 percent of income in 2009-10, and 69 percent in 2010-11.

The £1.6 billion for 2011-12 follows £1.5 billion in 2010-11, and £1.4 billion in 2009-10, meaning that over the past three years Premier League clubs have spent £4.5 billion on wages alone.  That figure does not include money paid to agents, which was an additional £77 million between October 2011 and September 2012.The accounts show clubs are generally becoming better run financially. In 2009-10 of the 20 Premier League clubs made an overall loss of £484 million. In 2010-11 that figure had fallen to £361million.