Man United and Man City bottom of points-per-pound league

Manchester United came bottom of the league for points won per pound spent on players’ wages, analysis by sports finance experts has shown.

United had the second-highest wage bill in the Premier League at £221 million, equating £3.2m in wages for each of the 69 Premier League points gathered by Jose Mourinho’s men.

It was the highest wage per point spend in the league, just ahead of Manchester City, at £2.9m per point, and relegated Sunderland, at £2.8m.

Academics at the University of Salford’s Centre for Sports Business, who researched the figures, said a club’s wage bill remained the best indicator of finishing positions, with those spending most finishing higher.

But the alternative league table of wages spent per point gained showed Bournemouth and Hull top, with just £700,000 of wages spent, and United bottom.

The overall top spenders were City, with a wage bill of £225m — just £4m more than United — followed by Chelsea on £218m.

Tottenham Hotspur finished second in the league, spending £121m on wages — around £100m less than the clubs around them.

Arsenal spent £200m and Liverpool £166m before a big drop to the ‘second tier’ of clubs, led by Everton on £83m.

Chris Brady, director of the Centre for Sports Business at the university, said: “While tiny margins can affect the final league positions of Premier League teams, the reality is that it is effectively three mini-leagues by wage bill — the top six, the middle seven and the bottom seven.

“Only two clubs, Sunderland and Bournemouth, for entirely different reasons, managed to finish outside their mini-league.

“Sunderland finished 10 places below their expected position by wage bill, while Bournemouth finished eight places above their predicted position.”

The team at Salford University found that when ranking managers/head coaches by their ability to finish above their wage position, Bournemouth’s Eddie Howe (plus eight places), Southampton’s Claude Puel (plus five), Tottenham’s Mauricio Pochettino (plus four) and Burnley’s Sean Dyche (plus three) were the top four performers.

The worst performer was David Moyes at Sunderland (minus 10), while other poor showings came from departing Watford manager Walter Mazzarri, who took the Hornets from a plus six position in week 25 to a minus one place at the finish, Stoke’s Mark Hughes (minus four) and Manchester United’s Jose Mourinho (minus four).