English top flight feels Chelsea effect as money rolls in

Roman Abramovich's takeover of Chelsea has cost the Russian tycoon £300 million ($549.3 million) in two years and had a distorting effect on English soccer finances, according to consultants Deloitte and Touche.

England's Premier League strengthened its position in 2003-04 as Europe's richest, the Deloitte report said.

Revenue from Europe's top five leagues - in England, Italy, Spain, Germany and France - rose two per cent to 5.8 billion euros.

The Premier League's income grew six per cent to nearly two billion euros, over 800 million more than Italy's Serie A, the number two league in Europe.

Revenue was 1.1 billion euros in Germany, 950 million in Spain and 660 million in France.

Of the big five leagues only clubs in the English Premier League and Germany's Bundesliga made profits - Serie A made losses of 341 million in 2003-04.

The Deloitte Annual Review of Football Finance highlighted the effect of new champions Chelsea on England's elite clubs since Abramovich started re-building the club in July 2003.

"In relation to player transfer costs, the substantial fall in 2002-03 was reversed with gross spending of over £400 million ($732.4 million) - largely driven by Chelsea," the report said.

The amount of transfer fees in England heading to overseas clubs and agents was a record £263 million.

The 2004-05 season saw the first tangible returns on Abramovich's investment as Chelsea lifted the League Cup before cantering to their first championship in half a century.

"Chelsea's spending on player wages and transfers contributed to total expenditure on players of over one billion pounds for the first season ever," the survey reported.

"However, excluding Chelsea, we estimate that players' wages actually fell in the Premiership - again a Premiership first."

Overall Premier League wages rose seven per cent in 2003-04 to £811 million, well below the compound annual growth rate of 23 per cent of the previous decade.

After stripping out Chelsea's wages, the total fell one per cent to £696 million.

"Big transfer fees and wages will continue to be paid for star players, but for the majority of players the new sense of 'realism' will continue to limit transfer fees and we hope that more performance-dependent wages will continue to be introduced for all players," the report said.

The turnover/wages ratio in the Premier League remained at 61 percent.

Manchester United and Bolton Wanderers are the only two clubs where the ratio is below 50 per cent.

Despite the depth of Abramovich's pockets, Manchester United remain the richest club on paper with revenues of £172 million in 2003-04, although Chelsea narrowed the gap as their income hit £144 million.

Liverpool will net £30 million from their Champions League triumph last month, Deloitte said.