Payroll

Payroll covers all the people employed by the club, from the players, through the board members, through to the match day tea-lady.

There are two areas to watch. The obvious one is that that the wages just don't get too high. The graph shows that the wages seem to have now settled around the £30m mark. It is important the club ensures they don't get caught paying too much in years when they are in the Champions League. A good comparison is Newcastle who grew their wage bill hugely when they had a good CL run, then never managed to get it under control again.

The second area to keep an eye on is the ratio of the wages to the income. Deloittes who do some in-depth analysis of football finances reckon the target for this ratio should be 50%. This allows the club to cope with the costs of running the business, buying the occasional player, running an youth development system, putting on games, maintaining the ground etc. Rangers struggled badly up to 2004, with the 2002 figure of 83% showing a total lack of control at the board level.

Things have improved on two fronts since 2004. The turnover of the club has improved, while the wages have come down. The last2005 and 2006 were below the 50% which is excellent. Again Newcastle is a good comparison.

The 2007 total is down, but the ratio up due to the drop in revenue from the JJB sale.