The Premiership is by far the richest league in Europe, according to a new report on the health of football.
But despite the English league's financial might, its clubs have performed poorly in the Champions League - an English team has won Europe's elite trophy only once since the Premiership was created 12 years ago.
 | FOOTBALL FINANCES REPORT Man Utd have failed in Europe since 1999 |
That is as many times as minnows France and Holland, and dwarfed by Spain's four triumphs and Italy's three.
The financial health of the Premiership makes impressive reading, even allowing for the absence of any reliable information from Spain since 1999 - accountants Deloitte & Touche have assumed its finances have grown at the same rate as the average of England, Italy, Germany and France.
- The Premiership has the single biggest income of all the European leagues, with 25% of the total of �5bn - and more revenue than Germany and France put together.
- Premiership teams earn vastly more from their matches than do their continental rivals - with England raking in �350m compared to �128m in Italy and Germany.
- The English league has the biggest absolute broadcast income at �517m, thanks to its generous deal with BSkyB, with Italy and Germany earning under �140m.
- Premiership sides have the biggest overall operating profit, being - with Germany - one of only two countries not showing a loss.
- English clubs have the biggest wage bill at �767m, even if it is only marginally ahead of Italy's �711m, while Spain was a close third in 1999.
So what has gone wrong on the pitch?
There are many possibilities:
Top managers have for years complained about the length of the fixture list; English clubs have not always had the best of luck in their European fixtures; And many of the top stars prefer to play in the sunnier, southern part of the continent, as Manchester United found out with Brazilian Ronaldinho this month. | Real Madrid spend heavily on attracting star players |
But a major part of the answer perhaps lies in one final statistic - English clubs are vastly outstripped by their Italian rivals in transfer spending, on both domestic and overseas players.
Italian clubs spent more than four times as much on overseas stars from 1997/98 to 2001/2002 - �883m compared with �212m by English clubs.
And there was also a disparity on domestic outlay, with Italian clubs spending �158m to English clubs' �139m.
In the same period, Real Madrid spent �113m acquiring just three players - Luis Figo, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo.
Stars like that make a difference - as Manchester United found out to their cost this year.
The English champions may have beaten eventual finalists Juventus home and away in the last Champions League, but that is no good if you do not make the final yourself.
And it was Real - who lost to Juventus after proving incapable of piercing their expensively-acquired defence - who put paid to United's hopes, thanks in large part to Ronaldo.
Something for Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger to ponder in a summer during which neither Manchester United or Arsenal have as yet made any major signings.
MMIX
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