Brentford and Brighton get value for money from players

In football money often talks, i.e. success on the pitch is almost invariably reserved for clubs that have spent the most on wages and transfer fees. However, the authoritative Swiss Ramble considers might be interesting to see which clubs have performed the best (and indeed worst) relative to their budget.

Looking at wages per point, the clubs with best value for money were Brighton £2.1m, West Ham £2.3m, Newcastle United £2.4m and Burnley £2.5m. Brentford are also likely to be one of the best even after their wages increased in the PL. In contrast,  Man United £5.6m, Everton £4.7m and Chelsea £4.5m by far the worst.

Another way of ranking clubs’ performance is wages per league position.    On this basis, the same clubs do best: Brentford, Brighton, West Ham and Newcastle, though worth noting Tottenham Hostpur’s impressive performance in 5th place. The three relegated clubs look bad on this metric, but this also highlights underperformance by Leeds and particularly Everton.

Excluding clubs promoted from the Championship, the clubs with the cheapest squad cost per point were Burnley and Brighton (both £3.6m), followed by Leeds £4.4m. Four clubs were higher than £10m: Man United £14.8m, Chelsea £13.0m, Everton £11.6m and Man City £10.5m.

The real stand-out for squad cost per league position is unfortunately Everton with £90.2m, which is almost exactly six times as much as Brighton £15.3m. Last placed Norwich were worst with £93.5m, but the next highest were Man United £57.4m and Chelsea £53.3m.

We can say that the clubs who get most “bang for their buck” are Brentford and Brighton.   At the other end of the spectrum,  the worst performing clubs in the Premier League, relative to money spent, were *drum roll* Everton and Manchester United, though this will surely not come as news to their supporters.

Clearly, many fans will say that the only measurement that counts is the number of trophies won by their club, but it is instructive to see which clubs outperform their budget. It looks like the data-driven strategy employed by Brentford and Brighton has worked pretty well.