It is a general rule of thumb in professional sport that the teams that pay the biggest salaries are the most successful. Looking at the final Premier League standings this year supports that trend, with the top four in the table also having the biggest payrolls*. However within the top four, some teams got more for their pounds/dollars/rubbles than others.
Liverpool were undoubtably the most efficient, finishing 33 points above Chelsea despite having a similar payroll. Meanwhile Manchester United underachieved (relatively speaking) when you consider they scraped into third with every point costing them £2m compared to £1.1m for Liverpool.
Across the whole league a points per payroll calculation is a good way to look at which clubs outperformed their salary budget and which underachieved. In the diagram below you can see how five teams performed at around the league average (Brighton, Newcastle, Spurs, Chelsea and Manchester City). Big spending City would have won had it not been for Liverpool getting such value from their salaries.
Those teams above the blue line overachieved and generally their fans will be happy with the season. While Leicester and Sheffield Utd may feel disappointed at falling away towards the end, they will eventually come round to seeing it was a good season. Sheffield Utd have probably had the best season, challenging for European places on a budget one-tenth the size of Manchester Utd.
These fans will definitely be feeling a lot better than those of teams below the line. These are the teams whose fans are asking why they are paying these players such large salaries. Arsenal, Everton and Crystal Palace in particular fall into this group – they paid £1.6m to £1.7m for every point of their mid-table obscurity.
Meanwhile at the bottom there must be a special mention for Aston Villa. While they also performed worse than would be expected, with the second smallest salary budget in the league they somehow managed to pull of the great escape.
*Payroll data from spotrac.com
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