The wages have of course just risen and risen over the last ten years, and are now over two and a half times what they were in 1998.
The key thing though is how much of the club's income goes on wages. As well as paying the wages there are a number of other costs that any football club has to watch. The most obvious ones are the actual costs of putting on a game, another the costs of buying in new players.
There is a commonly agreed target that a club should aim to spend no more than 50% of its income on wages. The graph below shows how the wages have risen but also shows on the line how the ratio hasn't been too bad. As a comparison the figures at Newcastle go from being excellent four or five years ago to be completely out of control. The 2007 ratio for Spurs is excellent which comes form the leap in income in that year. The 2008 figures are not available in the accounts, but will be added here as soon as they are. They will give a good view on whether the club has a good bonus scheme that rewards success on the pitch.
The thing to remember is that the ratio has two halves to it. If Spurs were in the Champions League for a season then the income could easily rise by £25-40m, and suddenly the wage bill could rise by £10m without there being any impact on the ratio. The issue at Newcastle was that they tried to attract high-earning players, on long contracts and then didn't stay in the Champions League. Hopefully Spurs would learn from that.
