Manchester United remain the richest club in English football, but neighbours City are closing the gap.
Accountant Deloitte’s annual football review reveals United were top of the table in their 2012/13 title-winning campaign with revenues of £362.2million.
City are second with £271.8m, but City had greater year-on-year growth of 18-per-cent compared to United’s 13-per-cent.
The North West’s five Premier League clubs generated revenues of nearly £1billion in 2012/13 which was almost a third of all the income from the top 92 clubs in English football.
And they were responsible for a large chunk of the £2.5billion generated by Premier League sides, the highest of any league in Europe.
Deloitte’s annual football review also predicts this figure will grow to £3.2billion in 2013/14 thanks to new broadcast and commercial deals. But much of this revenue services players’ wages which are on the rise.
Manchester’s two clubs also had the highest wage bill. Of the £1bn raised in income by the five North West sides £650m was spent on wages.
Deloitte added the Premier League wage bill increased by eight-per-cent to £1.8billion giving a record wages-to-revenue ratio of 71-per-pent.
According to the report Manchester United was the most profitable club with an operating surplus of £98million. In contrast Manchester City had the third highest Premiership loss of £17million, despite having more than halved the deficit of 2011/12.